Illegal beach sand mining. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
Former Information Minister, Dr. Laurence K. Bropleh recently wrote a letter to Liberia’s Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, Patrick Sendolo, expressing his frustration over the illegal beach sand mining activities in the port city especially in Upper and Central Buchanan communities.
The ongoing beach sand mining in Buchanan communities seem to be undermining government’s and her partners collective efforts to prevent reoccurrence of the devastation of sea erosion in Buchanan City. “On a daily basis, trucks are seen hauling sand from the beach… this is scary and environmentally dangerous…”
Read Full Article, Front Page Africa
Liberia: Coastal Defense Paradox – Beach Sand Mining Persists, All’Africa (02-08-2015)
Despite claims by the government of Liberia that it is committed to a coastal defense plan in order to save the city of Buchanan from sea erosion, beach sand mining in Central and Upper Buchanan continues on a weekly basis…
Liberia: Illegal Sand Mining Heightened, (02-22-2013)
Sand Mining Throughout Coastal Liberia (04-05-2012)
Liberia’s Poor and the Rising Sea, IPS News (06-25-2014)
A report on the threat to the environment in Liberia released by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) states that erosion in this West African country is causing the shoreline to recede in some cities, including Buchanan, Greenville, Harper and Robertsport, and that beach sand mining is also said to be the main contributing factor…
Sand Wars, An Investigation Documentary, By Denis Delestrac
“Sand is the second most consumed natural resource, after water. The construction-building industry is by far the largest consumer of this finite resource. The traditional building of one average-sized house requires 200 tons of sand; a hospital requires 3,000 tons of sand; each kilometer of highway built requires 30,000 tons of sand… A nuclear plant, a staggering 12 million tons of sand…
Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks: A UNEP report (March-2014)
