‘Houses On The River Will Fall’: Cambodia’s Sand Mining Threatens Vital Mekong

Cambodia is experiencing a building boom that is transforming its capital, Phnom Penh. Sitting at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap rivers, the city’s low-slung French colonial architecture is being replaced with high-rise apartment buildings, malls and luxury car dealerships. Sand from the Mekong’s sediment is key to that construction growth.

Unsustainable sand mining is threatening lives along the Mekong River in Cambodia

Sand river mining in the Puna Tsang Chu, Punakha, Bhutan, January 2020. Photograph:Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care. As of 2011-2012, when investigative filmmaker Denis Delestrac and team, were first collecting and unveiling sand mining datas and information from the professionals involved, they found and reported that “the Sand business was estimated to be a […]

Ghana: Sand mining threatens coastal tourism in Central Region

Ghana’s 168,000-kilometres of Atlantic ocean (Gulf of Guinea) is undulated with batholiths as a dominant feature with stretches of sandy beaches intermittently separated by cliffs or rock outcrops. However, intensive activities of illegal sand miners at its coastline has exposed tourist facilities and other national edifices to the ravages of the sea.