The crumbling coast: Mineral beach sand mining is eating away Kerala’s coast;Video
Residents of Alappad, a seaside village in Kollam, Kerala, have begun the #savealappad campaign to stop sand mining in their village which is resulting in large chunks of land getting wiped out.
Sand mafias silence journalists in India
Up to 50 billion metric tons of sand and gravel are extracted every year worldwide. The inexhaustible need for sand from this rapidly-developing country is the breeding ground for illegal activities by what has come to be known as the “sand mafias”.
UN Report: Sand Mafias are Destroying Moroccan Beaches
Sand mafias and illegal sand extraction are destroying beaches and threatening Morocco’s coastline, reminds the UN Environment Program.
Demand for sand: the largest mining industry no one talks about
The world’s largest and perhaps most destructive mining industry is rarely discussed. Approximately 85 percent of all material mined from the earth is a simple and widely available resource: sand. Because it is so cheap and readily available, it is mined by everyone from guy with a shovel, to multi-million dollar machine operations.
Against the grain: anger grows at spike in ‘sand graffiti’ by tourists in Japan
Local authorities in Japan have drawn a line in the sand amid anger over a rise in graffiti by foreign tourists disfiguring its pristine coastal dunes.
Rising demand for sand calls for resource governance, UN
With the global demand for sand and gravel standing at 40 to 50 billion tonnes per year, a new report by UN Environment reveals that aggregate extraction in rivers has led to pollution, flooding, lowering of water aquifers and worsening drought occurrence.
South Florida beach town getting emergency sand infusion
Sand-starved Dania Beach is getting an emergency infusion of that gritty stuff that gets washed away every year. Sand by the truckload is being brought in and deposited on the northern half of the beach near the pier.
As mass timber takes off, how green is this new building material?
Mass timber construction is on the rise, with advocates saying it could revolutionize the building industry and be part of a climate change solution. But some are questioning whether the logging and manufacturing required to produce the new material outweigh any benefits.
Coastal Conservation Plan Sparks Fight Over Sand
Beach communities that rely on dredging to replenish protective dunes object to expanded federal protections. Environmental advocates are pushing back with warnings about the possible ecological damage from beach replenishment projects that they call sand mining.