Results of an intensively sand mined beach and shoreline, Morocco, Northern Africa. Blond and beautiful expanses of beach sand have disappeared, revealing now a bare landscape. Captions and Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
Sand could soon be sucked out of the Indian Ocean, in a 0.4 –1km strip off the Kenyan coastline. The sand harvesting project, contracted to the China Roads and Bridges Company, is expected to remove a total of of 800,000m3 of sand for the construction of the Port Reitz Railway Container Terminal and Marshaling Yard. This, according to the environmental and social impact project assessment report…
The extraction will take place from Likoni through Waa to Tiwi Area in Mombasa county – close to some of Kenya’s most prized beaches and the Diani-Chale National Marine Reserve is located about 4Km south of the proposed dredging zone. It will take place at a depth of between 19-50 meters and the sand will be sucked from the sea by two sand pumps, causing the loss of bottom habitat, marine life, fisheries and fishery food sources…
Sand Dredging Threatening Tourism at Top-Rated Kenya Beach, ETN News (02-23-2015)
Unless measures are taken to halt dredging along the south coast beaches once and for all, one of Kenya’s greatest tourism resources could be damaged beyond repair and turn from a crowd puller and award winner in the space of a few months into a marine desert landscape…
Kenya Launches Giant Lamu Port Construction Project, WSJ (08-04-2014)
The Deadly Occupation Attracting Kenya’s Youth, IPS News (08-06-2014)
Sand 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. Many of Kenya’s poor youth are turning to sand mining as a quick way of earning money, despite the deadly risks due to poor sand harvesting methods…
Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks: A UNEP report (March 2014)
Despite the colossal quantities of sand and gravel being used, our increasing dependence on them and the significant impact that their extraction has on the environment, this issue has been mostly ignored by policy makers and remains largely unknown by the general public…
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…
