Unsustainable sand extraction threatens ecosystems, UN warns

The world's modern development is clashing with planetary preservation, particularly concerning the unsustainable extraction of sand and gravel. Companies worldwide collectively extract around 50 billion tons annually for construction and industrial purposes, a practice the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) describes as unsustainable from every perspective.

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With the annual extraction, a wall 27 meters wide and 27 meters high could be built around the entire equatorial line of the globe.

UNEP highlights sand's vital role as a natural water filter, a protector against coastal erosion, and a provider of crucial habitats for diverse flora and fauna. Despite its finite nature and ecological importance, the exploitation of sand is expected to grow as nations invest in climate adaptation, urban expansion, and renewable energy infrastructure. Artificial beaches, skyscrapers, ports, and flood barriers all demand vast quantities of sand and gravel. However, their excessive extraction from rivers, deltas, and coastal areas directly harms the ecosystems that shield communities from storms, erosion, and saltwater intrusion.

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Sand acts as a natural filter for water, protects coasts from erosion, prevents salinization of coastal aquifers, and provides crucial habitats for fish, plants, turtles, birds, crabs, and other species of flora and fauna.

Pascal Peduzzi, a UNEP official, articulated this dilemma: "We want the sand alive and dead." He noted that by 2020, the physical mass of the built environment had already surpassed the mass of all living biomass on Earth, with nearly 90% of this "anthropomass" composed of sand and gravel used in concrete, asphalt, glass, and direct construction.

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That is the dilemma. We want the sand alive and dead.

In previous reports, UNEP has advocated for international standards on marine sand extraction, suggesting that open public tenders for dredging could lead to significant improvements. Peduzzi stressed the need for a drastic change in how products, infrastructure, and services are produced, built, and consumed. "If we manage to control how the most extracted solid material in the world is managed, we can avoid a crisis and move towards a circular economy," he emphasized. The challenge for policymakers is to integrate sustainable sand management into broader national and regional environmental and development agendas.

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We have to drastically change our way of producing, building, and consuming products, infrastructures, and services.