Rising demand for sand calls for resource governance, UN
With the global demand for sand and gravel standing at 40 to 50 billion tonnes per year, a new report by UN Environment reveals that aggregate extraction in rivers has led to pollution, flooding, lowering of water aquifers and worsening drought occurrence.
Sand from glacial melt could be Greenland’s economic salvation?
As climate change melts Greenland’s glaciers and deposits more river sediment on its shores, an international group of researchers has identified one unforeseen economic opportunity for the Arctic nation: exporting excess sand and gravel abroad, where raw materials for infrastructure are in high demand.
The hidden environmental toll of mining the World’s sand
Sand mining is the world’s largest mining endeavor, responsible for 85 percent of all mineral extraction. It is also the least regulated, and quite possibly the most corrupt and environmentally destructive.
China’s search for sand is destroying Mozambique’s pristine beaches
The community of Nagonha in northern Mozambique sits on a tall dune with lush greenery on the one side, and a turquoise Indian ocean on the other. It should have been the kind of unspoiled landscape that Mozambique’s growing tourism industry is beginning to take advantage of. Instead, a Chinese mining company has irrevocably tarnished the scenery, and people’s lives.
Sierra Leone: Beaches under attack from sand miners
Twenty-four hours a day, seven-days-a-week, truckloads of sand are being hauled from the beach into Freetown to satisfy the needs of construction companies and contractors. Hundreds of tonnes of sand from the beaches is mined and sold to builders as construction material. The activity is technically illegal but laws, as is often the case, are not being implemented or enforced.
Ugandan children abandon school for sand mining
More and more Ugandan children drop out of school, lured into sand mining on the banks of River Nile in Busaana Sub-county, and joining what seems a lucrative venture to earn a living.
Illegal sand mining re-emerges in Hanoi, Vietnam
Despite last year crack down on sand dredging, illegal sand mining activities have re-started in Phúc Thọ District of Hanoi, causing much public concern.
Riddle of the sands: the truth behind stolen beaches and dredged islands
The insatiable demand of the global building boom has unleashed an illegal market in sand. Gangs are now stealing pristine beaches to order and paradise islands are being dredged and sold to the construction industry.
Jobless Cape Coast youth venture into illegal beach sand winning; Ghana
The youth at Bakaano, a suburb of Cape Coast, have taken to illegal mining due to the unavailability of jobs.