Vietnam ex-official took US$300,000 bribe to allow illicit sand mining – The Star
Police have recommended Nguyen Thanh Binh, the former chairman of the people’s committee in An Giang province in the Mekong river delta, be charged with power abuse, according to Public Security News, the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security. The area is a hotspot for sand mining…
A Civilization Built on Sand – Le Figaro
How ‘Yellow Gold’ Became a Resource Under Pressure…Sand is the second most consumed resource in the world after fresh water. Substance of our concrete civilization, its demand will intensify in the years to come. A situation that generates geopolitical tensions…
Billionaire accused of stealing sand from Malibu’s Broad Beach, lawsuit says – the Los Angeles Times
A lawsuit filed last week alleges that Mark Attanasio, billionaire businessman and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, has been using excavators to dig up sand from Broad Beach and carry it back to his house as part of an ongoing construction project…
Sand trafficking: a scourge that is worsening in Latin America – El Nuevo Siglo | Insight Crime
Low risk, difficult to detect and with huge profits, this crime affects most countries in the region. There are several ‘cartels’ in this black market…..
Looting of the sea: the great sand theft – ABC
It is the most demanded raw material after water. It is used to make concrete, chips, detergents, paints… and even artificial islands. The big cities are hungry for sand and to satisfy it, the world’s beaches are being plundered….
2022 Six Part Series on “Sand Dealers” – Le Monde
Published in 2022, links to Le Monde’s Series on Sand are provided here…
Inside the Crime Rings Trafficking Sand – Scientific American
Organized crime is mining sand from rivers and coasts to feed demand worldwide, ruining ecosystems and communities. Can it be stopped?…
The Unsustainable Harvest of Coastal Sands – Science
Although coasts form a crucial part of the natural wealth of the planet, their conservation is increasingly jeopardized owing to the growing human footprint. With 50% of the world’s population living within 150 km of a coastline, increasing urbanization and population pressures are threatening these fragile ecosystems…
Alarming’ scale of marine sand dredging laid bare by new data platform – the Guardian
One million lorries of sand a day are being extracted from the world’s oceans, posing a “significant” threat to marine life and coastal communities facing rising sea levels and storms, according to the first-ever global data platform to monitor the industry….