Illegal beach sand mining, near Tangier, Morocco. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
“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…” Captions by “Sand Wars” Multi Award-Winning Filmmaker: Denis Delestrac ©-2013.
Excerpts;
The growing global sand and gravel exploitation has not spared France’s beaches either.
Under what has been called the “Le Matelier project,” two companies, Granulats Ouest and Dragages Transports et Travaux Maritimes, are considering extracting about 13-million cubic metres of aggregate for 30 years.
The coveted site is a few cable-lengths from the coast, opposite the tourist town of Les Mathes, La Palmyre in the locality of the Le Matelier, near Royan, in southwestern France.
Didier Quentin, the mayor of the town of Royan, is backed by six other mayors along the coast in his fight against the removal and commercialisation of beach sand and gravel in the Gironde estuary.
While beach sand exploitation represents only 2.5% of Europe’s output, experts warn it is rising…
Read Full Article, Business Day (04-25-2016)
PROJET D’EXTRACTION DE GRANULATS MARINS MATELIER (07-26-2015)
The Next Ecological Plague: Sand Trafficking, Worldcrunch (03-16-2016)
France: Decree Granting Sand Mining Concession Has Been Signed – Environmentalist Group Will Appeal, AFP (09-19-2015)
The decree granting concession of shell sand in Bay of Lannion, off Brittany – on French West coast – to CAN Industry, was signed Monday and published this Wednesday. The environmental group “Peuple Des Dunes” intends to appeal and file an action before the administrative court…
Sand Wars, An Investigation Documentary, By Award-Winning Filmmaker Denis Delestrac ©-2013.
Based on encounters with sand smugglers, barefoot millionaires, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous real estate developers and environmentalists, this investigation takes us around the globe to unveil a new gold rush and a disturbing fact: the “Sand Wars” have begun.
Sand Thieves Are Eroding World’s Beaches For Castles Of Cash, by Martine Valo, Le Monde (09-2013)
The pillaging of sand is a growing practice in the world. This is because it represents 80% of the composition of concrete that it is the object of such greed…
Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks: A UNEP report (GEA-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.
In March 2014 The United Nations released its first Report about sand mining. “Sand Wars” film documentary by Denis Delestrac – first broadcasted on the european Arte Channel, May 28th, 2013, where it became the highest rated documentary for 2013 – expressly inspired the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to publish this 2014-Global Environmental Alert.
BE THE CHANGE:
PETITION: Take Action To End Global Beach Sand Mining, Coastal Care
Illegal sand mining, coastal Morocco. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
