Or perhaps readers of this blog have heard about this environmental catastrophe before. We've posted about 'Uncontrolled sand mining led to Kerala floods', "Sand and the Sandbank: is sand extraction a sustainable business?", 'The battle to curb our appetite for concrete' and Whilst there may be no shortage of sand in Devon....
The problem, according to the WEF, is that:
Estimates suggest that between 32 and 50 billion tonnes of aggregate (sand and gravel) are extracted from the Earth each year, according to a report from the WWF, making it the most mined material in the world.
In 2012 alone, the UNEP estimates enough concrete was created to build a wall around the equator measuring 27 metres high by 27 metres wide.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), sand mining of river deltas, such as the Yangtze and Mekong, is increasing the risk of climate-related disasters, because there’s not enough sediment to protect against flooding.
The solution? According to the WEF:
While pressure on governments to regulate sand mining is increasing, more needs to be done to find alternatives for use in construction and for solving the world’s continuing housing crises.
Breaking the reliance on concrete as the go-to material for building houses, by increasing the tax on aggregate extraction, training architects and engineers, and looking to alternative materials such as wood and straw, would also reduce our demand for sand.
The Mineral Products Association – the trade association that supports Aggregate Industries and others – thought it would add its tuppence worth, with a briefing on sand supply "as a contribution to the current global debate regarding the availability, access to and consumption of sand":
The MPA’s new report clarifies that the UK is not running out of sand and construction aggregates, has robust regulatory systems, and industry operating standards are generally high, which allows the delivery of a sustainable supply of aggregates from extracted and recycled sources.
The MPA agrees with the WEF about the problem:
These enormous development demands are putting increasing pressure on global materials supply and, significantly, creating adverse environmental impacts due to a lack of effective management of resources and associated illegal activity.
But on potential solutions? Here’s where the MPA – a proponent of digging holes in the ground, and cheerleader for its aggregate multinational friends, and who clearly would not countenance "breaking the reliance on concrete as the go-to material" – deviates from the WEF. It has come up with four "potential solutions" of its own, one of which is:
Third, resource and minerals businesses have a responsibility to act sustainably wherever they operate and to evidence such responsibility, for example through independently-audited environmental management and responsible sourcing standards (ISO 14001 for environmental management systems and BES 6001 for the responsible sourcing of construction products).
A responsibility to act sustainably wherever they operate – including the UK presumably. Perhaps Aggregate Industries didn't get the memo – when it planned its unsustainable multi-million mile HGV haulage scheme for Straitgate Farm.
