The Sahara alone is nine million square kilometers with desert and mostly just sand – and it is expanding. Therefore, it may seem very illogical that the world should run out of sand. But there is a difference in sand. And the sand the world needs to build roads, bridges, windows, mobile and TV screens and cement, coarse-grained sand – it is on the waning front.
– We believe that sand is everywhere. We thought we would never run out of sand, but we’re starting to see that in some places. It is about predicting what may happen in the next decade if we do not look ahead and predict, then we will have gigantic problems with sand supply and land planning , says Pascal Pedruzzi, climate researcher at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) CNBC.
After water, sand is the natural resource that is utilized the most. If there is a shortage of it, one can face real problems.
– Is it time to panic? Well, it would not help much, but it is time to take a look and change our view of sand, says Pedruzzi.
Indirect measurements of sand
There is no direct measurement of how much sand is used each year, but one can calculate the indirect, by looking at the correlation between sand and cement.
The UN estimates that 4.1 billion tonnes of cement are produced every single year. It is estimated that the global consumption of sand and gravel can be calculated tenfold.
That is, we consume between 40-50 billion tons of sand every year. 58 percent of the world’s cement production takes place in China.
Only in the last two decades has global sand use tripled, primarily as a result of increased urbanization.
«Sandmafia»
Pedruzzi warns that there are no plans, no rules for extraction or monitoring of resources. UNEP has previously warned against so-called “sand mafia” operating in countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Kenya and Sierra Leone. There have been reports from these countries, where activists are threatened or even killed, if they dig into the sand mafia’s affairs.
– It’s time to wake up, he said during a webinar organized by the think tank Chatham House last week. Several experts also spoke in favor of increased use of recycled cement in new buildings.
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