Living in the PNW, It’s hard to imagine a shortage of sand when you’re constantly tracking it into the house and then finding it in the crevices of your belly button, highly anticipated snack and beloved bra. Sand gets granular about boundaries; it would rather seep in everywhere. Finally, you think you’re in the clear. You’re on the couch and you open your book, and then a stream of old beach falls onto your lap. And your cat, who is now pissed, which was the last thing you needed. It turns out the war on sand is much cruder than this experience we face here on the west coast.
Some fun freaky math experts estimate that there are between 2.5-10 sextillion grains of sand on the planet. 10 sextillions?! I didn’t even know this number existed, but I want to say it with every opportunity I get now (next time at coffee shop: barista “would you like sugar in your oat milk latte?” me: “id like 10 sextillion [grains of sugar]”.
Sand is in more places than we could have ever imagined, beyond beaches, we find sand in every house, skyscraper, glass building and product, bridge, airport, sidewalks, electronics, toothpaste, powdered food and even in our wine..and that which holds our wine. Up to 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel are mined each year to meet soaring demand from construction and land reclamation – making this form of mining the most exploitive in the world, as it’s responsible for 85 percent of all mineral extraction. So, what are the issues of sand mining, and should we be trying to sell the sand from our crevices to the dark web?
Sand mining is a cause for river and coastal erosion, and in many places, this has led to the retreat of beaches and shrinking of river banks - which further impacts a coastline’s ability to buffer against storms. If this wasn’t enough, the physical impact to these systems alters groundwater reserves and water quality, leads to the loss of fertile land and increases flooding. Regarding the latter consequence, according to World Atlas, “Beaches, dunes, and sandbanks act as barriers to flooding. When sand mining removes such barriers, areas near the sea or river become more prone to flooding. As a result, beachside communities in areas subjected to indiscriminate sand mining are thus more vulnerable to the forces of nature.” It’s often communities that are already vulnerable to climate change and other environmental threats that are further impacted by sand mining, as discussed below.
Like any resource extraction activity, wildlife and their habitats are also compromised from sand mining. This encompasses the loss of nesting sites for sea turtles, and the near threat of extinction of gharials, a crocodile found in India, who build their nests on river banks. Additionally, when seabeds are dredged, this destroys the habitat present as well as harms or kills benthic creatures like crabs and starfish. In addition, according to the World Wildlife Fund, sand mining can result in a reduction in diversity and abundance of fish in mined areas.
With the fossil fuels used to extract and transport the sand, this industry inevitably contributes to climate change. Socially, sand mining impacts local livelihoods, farmers, fishers, and those—typically women—fetching water for households. I first learned about this in the film, Lost Worlds, which follows a young woman, Phalla Vy, in her home of Koh Sralau. In this small Cambodian island, sand has been dredged beyond disaster beneath mangrove forests - which are essential for fishing and crabbing, which colours this community’s way of life. The foundation of communities are being literally pulled away by machinery, rendering homelands unrecognizable. Environmental Justice Atlas breaks down the socio-economical impacts of sand mining on local people further, using Kerala in India as a case study, which includes loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, displacement, loss of livelihood, land dispossession, loss of landscape/sense of place. With 70% of countries reportedly experiencing illegal extraction of river and coastal sand, these adverse effects are becoming all too common (World Wildlife Fund)
As Cosmos Science states, “The damage caused by uncontrolled demand..is significantly exacerbated by the fact that in most parts of the world sand is considered a ‘common resource’ – easy to reach and prohibitively expensive to regulate.” Given the nuance of this material management, what solutions can be implemented to addressing this growing sand storm?
Though I’m not a huge fan of WWF and their practices and ways of operating, they seem to have the most salient recommendations around solving the issues caused by sand mining that I’ve been able to find, which are as follows:
“Europe has shown that developed economies can continue to prosper without resorting to river sand. Its supplies now come from crushed quarry rocks, recycled concrete and marine sand. The question now is what can be done to reduce the demand for sand in rapidly developing countries in Asia and Africa. As the review conclude, it will require systemic change:
The demand for sand is increasing and preventing or reducing likely damage to rivers will require the construction industry to be weaned-off river sourced sand and gravel, either through the substitution of materials or alterations to building designs and methods so that extraction is reduced to levels that are proven to be sustainable/have little negative ecological impact.
This type of societal shift is similar to that required to address climate change, and will necessitate changes in the way that sand and rivers are perceived, and cities are designed and constructed.
In most countries, sand mining is officially regulated through national mining and environmental protection legislation, with authority for regulation devolved to the State or District level. Legislation is frequently accompanied by non-binding guidelines to improve the sustainability of the activity. This governance structure results in many small administrative entities having responsibility for implementing and enforcing these regulations, hampering management at the catchment level. The lack of enforcement of regulations is a common issue identified by the mainstream media. Options for reducing the construction industry’s dependence on sand mining identified through a literature review, included recycling concrete, fixing rather than replacing concrete, researching the suitability of waste materials as aggregate substitutes, and developing new construction materials and design approaches.
And the review recommends some next steps:
Increase public awareness of the growing demand and finite supply of sand: Public awareness and acceptance will be required for any long term shift away from the present market system whereby sand underpins all development, yet is the cheapest of commodities;
Conduct research into economic incentives or certification schemes that could drive a reduction in the extraction of sand from rivers;
Conduct more scientific research into sand mining in rivers, including short-term ‘rapid’ assessments and longer term investigations to understand changes over the time-scales at which rivers and ecosystems respond to change. Rivers where sensitive or endangered species reside, and their habitat needs are known would provide good initial targets for research. Evidence of where economically valuable species are being lost would provide information on economic trade-offs.
The severe lack of information regarding rivers in developing countries must rapidly be addressed.
The World Economic Forum has also added to the conversation, they state, “What can be done?
While pressure on governments to regulate sand mining is increasing, more needs to be done to find alternatives for use in construction and for solving the world’s continuing housing crises.
In its 2014 report, Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks, the UNEP Global Environment Alert Service suggests optimizing the use of existing buildings and infrastructure, as well as using recycled concrete rubble and quarry dust instead of using raw sand.
Breaking the reliance on concrete as the go-to material for building houses, by increasing the tax on aggregate extraction, training architects and engineers, and looking to alternative materials such as wood and straw, would also reduce our demand for sand.
Beyond these points, we need governments and more environmental groups to address the environmental justice issues arising out of sand mining, as illuminated by the destruction of local economies and environmental services in Cambodia, India and many other developing nations. This includes stronger regulations, enforcement and monitoring around this form of extraction, protections for vulnerable communities, including communities at risk in policy making, compensation for affected communities, and restoring communities that have been degraded by sand mining.
What are your thoughts on this shady and underrated problem? No matter where we live, we benefit from sand, and all other materials that come from the earth that we use and depend on every day of our lives. As we work to address the climate crisis and environmental racism, we need to establish an equitable and circular economy for all materials, which requires stronger government regulations, private sector participation, and people getting loud about the changes needed. Let your MP know that you love sand and want all generations to experience the sublime that is beaches - keeping the global collection of beaches protected from climate change and sand mining.
