The global sand crisis: it’s being used up faster than it can be replaced
The Guardian • • world
Key Points:
- Malé, the overcrowded capital of the Maldives, faces shrinking living space due to population growth and rising sea levels caused by climate change, prompting land reclamation projects using sand dredged from nearby areas.
- A new UN report warns that global sand extraction, at 50 billion tonnes annually, is depleting sand faster than it can be replenished, threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, and natural defenses against climate hazards.
- Sand serves vital roles both as a construction material and as a natural regulator of rivers, coastal aquifers, and biodiversity, creating competition between its extraction and preservation.
- The 2019 Gulhifalhu land reclamation project near Malé caused irreversible environmental damage, destroying 200 hectares of coral reefs and marine protected areas, highlighting the ecological costs of sand dredging.
- UNEP calls for improved governance, better data, transparency, and stricter environmental adherence to balance the demand for sand with the need to protect vulnerable ecosystems, especially in climate-sensitive nations like the Maldives.