Sand is the second most used resource on earth after water. It is the subject of many legal and illegal covetousness. Its exploitation, which has exploded in recent years, raises fears of negative impacts on the environment and biodiversity.
Let’s be reassured, the planet does not lack sand… for the moment. In theory, the total quantity of this material is estimated at around 120 million billion tons. At the annual rate of global consumption, 40 to 50 billion tons (or 18 kg per day per person), it should take between 3 and 4 million years before the resource is exhausted. The annual volume of sand and gravel (aggregates) used in the world would also allow a wall, 27 meters wide and 27 meters high, to be built around planet Earth.
This material is in high demand because it is useful and essential in nearly 200 applications: real estate, windows, computers, telephones, paints, laundry detergents, cosmetics, etc. Sand has quickly positioned itself as an essential and overexploited raw material. Its consumption has tripled in twenty years, according to Pascal Peduzzi, director of GRID-Geneva, a decentralized network of offices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
According to his work, China alone consumes 60% of the world’s sand. “The highest demand comes from China, which consumed more cement in three years (6.6 gigatons between 2011 and 2013) than the United States during the entire 20th century (4.5 gigatons),” notes Vince Beiser, author of the book The World in Grain. Experts estimate this global market at around $100 billion per year, but according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023, its value would be closer to $785 billion.
Unexploitable sand
What are the different types of sand ?
In fact, there are several types of sand for several uses:
- Quartz sand, which is very hard, is often used in road and building construction, as well as in the glass and ceramics industry.
- Sea sand, which is rich in salt, is used in seawater desalination systems. It is also used in skin care and beauty products because of its exfoliating properties.
- River sand, the most common, is largely used in the construction of concrete and mortar, in swimming pool filters and drainage systems.
- Coarse sand, also known as crushed sand, is more resistant. It is often used in structural work such as road and building construction.
- Fine sand is used in the construction of concrete and mortar, because it can be easily mixed with these materials and their strength data. It is also used in the manufacture of glass and metals and in the abrasive industry.
However, the sand of many deserts, primarily that of the Sahara, is unusable. Constantly polished by vents, its geometry is too round and regular, so it cannot aggregate effectively. Use in construction to make concrete is then unthinkable. In any case, sand remains an affordable commodity: around $10 per ton.
500 million tons of sand
However, under the weight of the population explosion, the demands are enormous, particularly in real estate and in the expansion of territory. On December 4, Prince Albert II of Monaco inaugurated the new Monterra district, a six-hectare area entirely reclaimed from the sea. The construction site, which began in 2013, requires 27,000 rockfill blocks and 750,000 tons of sand. A drop in the ocean compared to some colossal projects such as Palm Island in Dubai. This project requires 150 million tons of sand.
The emirate wanted to go even further with its “The World” project, which envisaged the construction of 300 artificial islands representing the map of the world, its continents and its countries. The cost of the project amounted to 10 billion euros in 2005 with the use of 500 million tons of sand, which is significantly more than the annual consumption of a country like Turkey or France. But “The World” was delayed due to the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and Covid.
International standard?
Illegal sand mining
Because land-based quarries are running out, many operators are turning to the seabed, beaches and rivers, very often without any legal control. Real “sand mafias” have been organized around the planet, whether in India or Morocco. They respond to requests from unscrupulous builders. With the help of day laborers looking for a few subsidies to survive, they illegally extract millions of tons of sand, without operating permits and at low cost. According to UNEP, 40% of the sand used was stolen from Moroccan beaches.
The “sand thieves” go to the beaches and fill sandbags with shovels, then transport them on donkeys to then sell them to smugglers. The system is replicated identically in India where 2 billion tons of sand are illegally exploited each year. This illegal mining rarely attracts the attention of law enforcement, for two reasons: First, there are no landowners to file complaints. Second, because law enforcement officials are likely to profit from it themselves! According to Luis Fernando Ramadon, a Brazilian federal police expert who studies extractive industries, the illicit sand trade is worth $200 billion to $350 billion a year worldwide. That’s more than the combined trade in logging, gold mining, and fishing.
Impact of sand mining on the environment
The environmental impact of this mining, legal or not, is real. Sand mining can change the course of rivers and poses “a real threat to wildlife because it removes habitats that animals need for rest and lay eggs,” says Rishikesh Sharma, an Indian government biologist who has worked at the National Chambal Sanctua. The massive extraction of sea sand leads to the alteration of the seabed, disrupting the entire marine food chain, because many small fish live in the sand and guarantee the balance of the ecosystem. The second problem is the accelerated erosion of the coasts and the retreat of beaches which is combined with the actions of global warming.
According to a study by Nature Climat Change published in March 2024, the coastline could retreat on average in the world by 35 to 240 meters by 2100. Between 75 and 90% of the world’s beaches would be affected. In Florida, 9 out of 10 beaches are in danger of disappearing and 25 islands in Indonesia have already disappeared. Half of the current beaches could no longer exist by the end of the century. Assessing the full environmental, political, geopolitical and social consequences of this (over)exploitation is a complicated action to carry out. Faced with ever-increasing demand, the UNEP report* envisages developing an “international standard” that would take into account the “social and environmental value” of sand… It also recommends banning the extraction of sand from beaches altogether. Because it knows that this resource, like others, is not inexhaustible.
