Sand is a main ingredient in concrete, glass and electronics. Sand mining is the world’s largest extraction industry. Every year the world uses up to 50 billion metric tons of sand, according to a United Nations Environment Program report. Demand is predicted to rise in the coming decades, outstripping supply and even nature’s ability to replenish sand. Illegal sand extraction is ravaging deserts across countries like Nairobi and Morocco.
Why this matters: Sand from Moroccan beaches and dunes is sold inside the country and is also shipped abroad, using organized crime’s extensive transport networks, according to findings by transnational security investigator Abdelkader Abderrahmane, who says that more than half the country’s sand is illegally mined. Sand theft is rarely pursued by law enforcement. And the environmental impacts are severe–it destroys natural habitats like estuaries, changes river flows, and it exacerbates flooding.
What the experts say: “The time is running out for sand,” says Mette Bendixen, a physical geographer at McGill University who studies the effects of sand mining. “More people from as many different angles as possible are shouting out to the world, ‘We have an issue!’ I think it’s one of the most understudied global challenges of the 21st century.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sand-mafias-are-plundering-the-earth/
Leave a Reply