Sand shortage (The Economist) Flashcards
INDIA’S “sand mafia” is doing a roaring trade. The Times of India estimates that the illicit market for sand is worth…
around 150bn rupees ($2.3bn) a year; at one site in Tamil Nadu alone, 50,000 lorryloads are mined every day and smuggled to nearby states.
A 2014 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates they account for up to what percentage by weight of everything mined globally each year.
85%
Sand often makes up the very ground that is built on, too.
How much bigger is Singapore now by virtue of dumping vast quantities of sand into the sea?
Singapore is now over 20% larger than it was when it became independent in 1965.
Sand may appear plentiful, but is in fact becoming scarce.
Not all types are useful: desert sand is too fine for most commercial purposes.
Reserves also need to be located near construction sites; as transport costs are high compared with the price, it is usually uneconomical to transport sand a long distance.
Sand is being extracted at a far greater rate than that at which it is naturally replenished, and the depletion of existing reserves is damaging the environment.
Dredging in rivers and seas pollutes natural habitats, affecting local fishing and farming industries.
Mining in China’s Poyang Lake—which the UNEP reckons may be the world’s largest sand-extraction site—is thought to have lowered water levels.
Beaches in Morocco and the Caribbean have been stripped of sand, lowering their capacity to absorb stormy weather.
