Zandoorlog

Sand is the new gold. The worldwide excavation of sand on beaches and in rivers and oceans is signalling an ecological and human catastrophe. A worldwide sand rush is taking place. Article by Peter Dupont. Translation by Rafael Njotea.

Better Urban Planning Needed To Dodge Disasters

With the world’s mega-cities growing even larger, policymakers, especially those in developing countries, need urban planning that will help these areas withstand the impacts of natural disasters.

Houses Built on Sand

The excessive extraction of oceanic sand has caused the large-scale erosion of China’s shoreline and fisheries, while a lack of regulation has allowed unstable sand to be used in construction.

Sand For Sale: Environment Ravages

The “king Of Koh Kong” has defied an order endorsed by the Cambodia’s Prime Minster to halt his controversial and environmentally damaging sand dredging activities on the Tatai river in Koh Kong.

Lagos Expansion Into Atlantic Ocean, Nigeria

By 2016, Lagos will get a new city to be built on nine million square metres of reclaimed land about 2.4 kilometres into the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island.

CAMBODIA: Sand dredging prompts fishermen’s protests

Prime Minister Hun Sen banned sand exports in May 2009, yet sand mining continues in Koh Kong Province, the epicentre of the country’s corrupt dredging industry. Dredgers remove 25,000 tons of sand each day from the Cambodian seas to export.