There are a number of resources we as humans take for granted that we have enormous access to. One of these natural resources is sand.
Although it may be difficult to imagine that we would run out of sand, that is exactly what can happen, experts warn.
– Is it time to panic? Well, it obviously will not help, but it is time that we take a look and change our view of sand, says climate scientist, Pascal Peduzzi, who works in the UN Environment Program (UNEP), according to CNBC.
Enormous amounts of sand
It is not entirely easy to estimate how much sand we burn every single year, but according to Peduzzi it can be measured indirectly, since there is a “very, very good” correlation between the use of sand and cement.
The UN estimates that 4.1 billion tonnes of cement are produced every single year. As much as 58 percent of production takes place in China.
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For every tonne of cement you need 10 tonnes of sand. This means that in cement production alone, between 40 and 50 billion tonnes of sand disappear every year.
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Global sand use, which has tripled over the past two years – partly as a result of increased urbanization – is far higher than the earth itself is able to keep up with. More sand is used than the soil is able to “create” through weathering.
The global management of sand resources is “the elephant in space”, Peduzzi believes.
– We just assume that sand is everywhere. We had never imagined that we could run out of sand, but it does happen in some places. It is about predicting what can happen in the next decade if we do not look ahead, if we do not predict, we will have gigantic problems with sand supply, and also with land planning, says Peduzzi.
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«Sandmafia»
It is also not the case that all sand is suitable for cement, for example. If you hear that there is a shortage of sand, you may immediately think of the Sahara. But this sand is too fine-grained and not suitable for cement. That way, it may not be as difficult to sell sand in the Sahara as most people want it to be.
Already now there is great pressure on sand demand in several places.
UNEP has warned against the rise of “sand mafias”, where groups of entrepreneurs, dealers and businessmen operate in countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Here, activists working to uncover what is going on are threatened and even killed.
A grotesque example of this comes from Kenya. In 2017, a police officer named Geoffrey Kasyoki was attacked by a gang of younger men with machetes. They smashed his head and shot him with poison arrows, writes Al Jazeera.
The reason they killed him was true. Kasyoki had in fact fought against illegal sand activities. He arrested illegal miners who worked along the river and spoke out in the local community to take care of the sand. It cost him his life.
It is also revealed that the closed dictatorship North Korea violates international sanctions by retrieving sand from the sandy bottom of Haeju Bay. The sand is then transported to various destinations in China.
Desperate over sand tagging
– Wake up!
The American journalist Vince Beiser has published a book about the world’s lack of sand.
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– Sand-related crime has flourished. The bands are completely ruthless, Beiser added VG last year.
Climate researcher Peduzzi is concerned, because despite the fact that the problem has received increasing attention in recent years, he believes the problem has so far not been adequately addressed at the global level.
– There are no big plans, no standard on how sand should be extracted, no land planning on where to extract and where not to extract, no monitoring of where the sand comes from most places and no enforcement of laws because countries have to choose between development needs and environmental protection, he says, and states:
– It’s time to wake up.
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