Shipping sand, coastal Kenya. Photo source: ©© Jennifer Wu
“Rhonda is the leading source of sand in the entire Rift Valley Region, owing to its availability along the river bank. Here, sand mining dates back to the early 1980s…” IPS News
Excerpts;
Sand in Kenya is becoming a necessary component in fuelling the construction boom that is driving the rapid pace of urbanisation and rapid economic growth patterns in Kenya.
In 2010, Nakuru town, situated 160 km north-west of Kenya’s capital city Nairobi, was voted by United Nations Human Settlements Programme or U.N.-Habitat as the fastest-growing town in East and Central Africa. The new title resulted in a rush of investors to the area and a subsequent boom in construction industry – the main consumers of sand.
Many of Kenya’s poor youth are turning to sand mining as a quick way of earning money, despite the deadly risks posed by collapsing mine walls due to poor sand harvesting methods…
Kenya: Sand Mining Threatens To Displace Thousands, IRIN (03-24-2013)
Every day, 180 trucks chug their way to the banks of a river near Lake Victoria and leave laden with sand. Their cargo fuels Kenya’s construction boom and the local labour market, but the extraction could spell disaster for the village of Nyadorera…
Sand Thieves Are Eroding World’s Beaches For Castles Of Cash, By Martine Valo, Courtesy of © Le Monde / Worldcrunch
The pillaging of sand is a growing practice in the world. Taken by hand, three or four meters deep in the Maldives archipelago, or transported on a donkey, or sucked up by huge sand boats in Asia, coastal sand mining, authorized or unlawful, is exploding…
Sand Wars, An Investigation Documentary, By Denis Delestrac
Is sand an infinite resource? Can the existing supply satisfy a gigantic demand fueled by construction booms? What are the consequences of intensive beach sand mining for the environment and the neighboring populations…? This investigation takes us around the globe to unveil a new gold rush and a disturbing fact: the “Sand Wars” have begun…
