Sardinia. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
A French couple is facing years of jail time after stealing almost 90 pounds of sand from Sardinia, the Italian island known for its picturesque beaches.
According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, two French citizens poured white sand into 14 plastic bottles from Chia, a beach in southern Sardinia, and put them in the trunk of their SUV. The couple wanted to take it home as a memory of their vacation…
Read Full Article; CBS News (08-19-2019)
Sand stolen by tourists returned to Sardinian beaches; The Local Italia (08-05-2019)
Sardinia sand thieves face fines of up to €3,000; Guardian UK (08-07-2018)
This Sardinian Town May Ban Towels to Save Popular Beach; Condé Nast Traveller (02-20-2018)
Why Sardinia’s tourists taking sand as souvenir face fine; BBC News (08-23-2017)
Famed for its pristine beaches, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia has hit back at holidaymakers who have been pinching its sand…
Sand and deliver – Sardinians indignant over tourists stealing sand from beaches as souvenirs; The Telegraph (07-17-2016)
An increasing number of visitors are scooping the sand into plastic bottles or bags and trying to take it home as a reminder of their holidays. Some are stopped at the island’s airports by vigilant officials, who confiscate the keepsakes and warn tourists that taking sand, shells and any other natural materials from the island is an offense…
Jars of sand from the beach among the most common items flagged, Florida; Fox4 (06-19-2017)
Travelers check an average of 2 million bags a year while flying out of Southwest Florida International Airport. TSA agents have seen it all; but said the most common item to be flagged in SWFL is the jar of sand you saved from the beach…
French beaches’ sand for sale illegally on internet; Le Figaro Economie (10-11-2017)
A french mayor discovered that sand from the town’s local beach, was for sale on the internet. If perhaps seemingly inconspicuous at first glance, this occurence instead reveals far deeper tensions related to the exploitation of this finite ressources.
The discovery of an a priori anecdotal internet ads rose concerns amongst local residents. According to the radio network France Bleu, are offered for sale on internet for only 3 or 4 euros, little bags of sand coming from some beaches in Brittany, and packaged similarly as if it were drugs trafficking…
Line drawn on sand sales: EBay removes listings for sand purportedly from Hawaii beaches, Hawaii Tribune Herald (11-04-2017)
EBay has removed numerous listings advertising the sale of sand purported to be from Hawaii beaches, including iconic Papakolea Beach — also known as Green Sands Beach — after the Tribune-Herald inquired about the sand sales…
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.
Sand Wars, An Investigation Documentary, By Multi Award-Winning Filmmaker Denis Delestrac (©-2013)
As of 2011-2012, when investigative filmmaker Denis Delestrac and team, were collecting and unveiling sand mining datas and information from the professionals involved, “…the sand business was estimated to be a $70 billion industry, worldwide…!”—Denis Delestrac (©-2013)
