Sand Mining

The use of coastal sand as building material or market commodity is a common practice on Wallis Island. Today, with the current threats posed by climate change, this practice increases the dangers associated with rising sea levels. Thus it is important to investigate the complex interplay between motivations, perceptions of need and risk, time scale and public acceptance that underlie sand mining. Political power dynamics and traditional land tenure are the two key factors that determine the future of this issue.

The paper discusses the imperatives of sand mining and the environmental
impacts using selected case histories in the Niger Delta and elsewhere. The
continuation of sand mining in spite of the associated adverse environmental
effects, have been linked to the creation of new usable land from marginal
lands of the region and sustained supply of aggregates for expansion of civil
infrastructure. The case studies highlight the project cycle of sand mining
and the circumstances in which environmental peculiarities influence
the procedures and strategies for abstraction. The major concerns of sand
mining in the riverbeds and open sea are accelerated coastal and riverbank
erosion, surface water turbidity due to re-suspended sediment load, threats to
coastal infrastructure and the prospect of wider dispersion of contaminated
sediments with extended effects on water quality, health and safety of marine
life. The paper emphasizes the need to integrate mitigative measures of
potential impacts into the planning and execution of sand mining projects.

The Timi-Kurm or Whale-Turtle festival is a novel effort that links a diverse group of stakeholders to share a collective appreciation of our natural environment and facilitate holistic conservation of marine, coastal, and terrestrial resources in Karwar, India. Besides environmental education, a key focus the 3-day Timi-Kurm fest was to build monetary and in-kind support for the true environmental stewards — the traditional and vulnerable small-scale fishing communities of India.
The word “timi” in Sanskrit means a whale, and “kurm” means a turtle – the name was chosen to signify the cultural and enduring relationship Indians have with the marine environment since ancient times. Dolphins and whales are aquatic throughout their life but sea turtles need both the land and the sea, for example, a female sea turtle buries her eggs on the beach sand for incubation.
The link between land and sea is not limited to these magnificent creatures, but the same bond exists between humans and the sea. Our coastal communities and the wider world depend on the oceans for food. But the oceans play a more prominent role in our lives by influencing earth’s climate, by being a source for oil, minerals, and other valuable resources, and by housing an incredible diversity of animals and plants that have spawned eco-tourism activities worldwide.
Cultivating an enduring relationship with the marine environment and making critical links with the coastal communities, especially traditional fishing communities is integral to all of Terra Marine Research Institute (TeMI’s) activities and the Timi-Kurm fest!
To meet this goal, TeMI networks with the local fishing community and public, and government & non-government environmental organisations, academic, corporate and non-profit sectors from coastal, rural, and urban areas. Smart wildlife conservation happens best when conservation awareness, responsibility and positive action are inspired by people from different backgrounds and disciplines.
Traditional subsistence fishing communities are found throughout the Indian coast including the islands of the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Their methods of fishing are largely environment friendly, but are sadly being displaced, due to pressure from industrial fisheries, leaving them with scarce fish to catch.
The Timi-Kurm fest has made its beginning in Karwar and will simultaneously cater to similar needs in the bordering state of Goa, primarily due to significant environmental concerns and collaboration interests expressed by major stakeholders and participants during the 2013 Timi-Kurm fest held in Karwar.

The Timi-Kurm  festival does not conclude as a mere three day event. Its objectives are long-term, and include:

1)  To empower coastal communities in India to holistically conserve marine and terrestrial resources in the  Western Ghats bordering the coasts.
2) To support the welfare of artisanal or traditional fishing communities in the Karwar region and nationally.
3) To engage in conservation-oriented research and awareness efforts with local communities, integrating local traditional knowledge and scientific approaches.
4) To boost the local economy where the fests is held and build capacity by encouraging conservation champions among both the wildlife enthusiast and marginalized communities.

Sand, the main ingredient of cement, glass, and asphalt, is being mined for urban development and global production at a pace that exceeds natural renewal. Yet research on the sustainability of sand mining has concentrated on extraction rates and socioecological impacts in rivers and coastlines. The potential of active volcanoes to generate a renewable supply of sand through cyclical or intermittent eruptions has been understudied, as have the asymmetrical power relations that animate around this dangerous but financially lucrative industry. This article uses a transboundary political ecology framework to examine the geographically dispersed development interests that drive volcanic sand mining on Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active stratovolcano. I argue that to make Mount Merapi's volcanic sand trade more sustainable, collaborative forms of environmental governance are needed to bridge critical gaps in knowledge about industry practices that create environmental impacts extending well beyond the volcano's slopes. I develop this argument through three sets of transboundary political ecology themes centered on (1) knowledge boundaries that inform differentiated place-based practices; (2) the transboundary governance dilemma posed by disconnects between upstream mining practices and downstream environmental impacts; and (3) the potential of cross-border governance networks to collaboratively address these policy deficits.

Sand is a scarce resource, extracted from rivers and coasts at rates that exceed its natural renewal. Yet, little is understood about the political economy of sand extraction, the livelihood vulnerabilities produced, or why sand grabbing is occurring at unprecedented rates in particular locations. Drawing together literature on global production network approaches in economic geography and debates on sustainable livelihoods in development geography--two literatures rarely in conversation with one another--we reveal the links between new, globalized, cross-border articulations of poverty and prosperity and the sand trade. We situate our sand case in Southeast Asia across three sites, namely in: Singapore, the world’s top sand importer; Cambodia, a top-ten global exporter of sand; and an emerging exporter, Myanmar. We examine how sand mining impacts, directly and indirectly, a range of livelihoods, specifically fisheries in Cambodia, riverbank agriculture in Myanmar, and migrant labor...

Sand is a scarce resource, extracted from rivers and coasts at rates that exceed its natural renewal. Yet, little is understood about the political economy of sand extraction, the livelihood vulnerabilities produced, or why sand grabbing is occurring at unprecedented rates in particular locations. Drawing together literature on global production network approaches in economic geography and debates on sustainable livelihoods in development geography--two literatures rarely in conversation with one another--we reveal the links between new, globalized, cross-border articulations of poverty and prosperity and the sand trade. We situate our sand case in Southeast Asia across three sites, namely in: Singapore, the world’s top sand importer; Cambodia, a top-ten global exporter of sand; and an emerging exporter, Myanmar. We examine how sand mining impacts, directly and indirectly, a range of livelihoods, specifically fisheries in Cambodia, riverbank agriculture in Myanmar, and migrant labor in Singapore. Drawing on our empirical work, we argue that linking these two literatures with empirical data on sand provides an approach which is broad in its connections and simultaneously grounded in specific practices, places, and people.  This enables us to better account for often overlooked aspects in the production, erosion, and transfer of value.

Globally, natural resources are under intense pressure especially in Africa where high consumption levels have brought changes that have driven the economies of rural communities towards reckless exploitation. The main drivers for increased ecological footprints of extractive industries have been identified as population growth, increased demand for construction works and city expansion. Sand removal is largely practiced all over world and it covers over 80% all natural resource exploration. It is estimated that the sand industry is worth over 4.0 billion dollars with a fast increasing rate of about 6% annually. In Nigeria, sands and aggregates are the most common and easily withdrawn natural resources even above the extraction rates of crude oil. It is cheap, readily available and easily extracted from using a simple shovel in remote areas in global South regions and its transition to the world’s largest multinational mining companies in global North countries. The most desired sands are sand removed from river beds and coast due to their ability to bind with concrete for construction purposes. This has placed the natural environment especially river resources in danger since it underpins the economy and sustains life in most developing countries specially fishing, irrigating agricultural lands and other domestic uses. River mining has gained global attention due to high consumption levels that by far outweighs the levels of sand renewal as a time-constrained resource. Basically, it is considered as the least regulated mineral processing activity with high destructive tendencies. This present chapter examined the impact of river sand mining and its ecological footprint at odor river, Amaokpala, Anambra State, Nigeria. A mixed method approach was adopted in the case study that included qualitative (in-depth interview with 30 sand miners, transect walks, field observations and photography) and quantitative methods (160 questionnaires were randomly administered to residents). The concept of ecological footprint was used as a lens to further inform the effects of commercial river sand mining on the environment. Findings from the study showed that an estimated value of 156,400 m3 of sands have been removed from Odor River for the past 40 years. Also, the ecological impacts of mining in Odor River include loss of river bank vegetation, increased turbidity, erosion, river shrinking and lowered riverbed. There is need to enhance biocapacity of our sands while ensuring ecological security in riverine and coastal environments. Hence, policy enforcement, education on human lifestyles towards resource consumption rates, youth engagement and community based participation research (CBPR) among others were recommended.

The valuation of estuarine goods and services serves to highlight the degree to which estuaries contribute to human well-being and to show that the social cost of activities which contribute to estuary degradation could be greater than the private gains. We applied this notion to a list of estuaries in the eThekwini municipal area of South Africa to estimate private gains and social costs of sand mining enterprises. Sand mining in rivers is an important source of raw material for the construction industry, but impacts on sediment yield in estuaries, and therefore on estuarine functioning and service provision. We confirmed the presence of negative externalities in the sand mining industry that are not reflected in the market price of sand, implying that the sand resource is currently being over-exploited, to the detriment of estuarine ecological functioning and long term social well-being. These external costs are estimated at the estuary level for the study area. An assessment of t...

Dynamics in macrobenthos abundance and diversity in sand-mined Imo River in Etche, South-eastern Nigeria has been investigated. While 14 representative species, comprising 3 classes (insect, oligochaeta, and gastropoda) were earlier identified in 2003, 9 species of these classes and 5 species comprising 2 classes only (insecta and oligochaeta) were identified in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Though Margalef’s diversity had increased from 1.67 in 2003 to 2.30 in 2009, it sharply decreased to 0.69 in 2010. Over these periods, entomofauna (class insecta) predominated the faunal assemblages with 8 species from 6 families in 2003, 7 species from 5 families in 2009, and 3 species from 2 families in 2010. Significant spatial variance inequality in macrobenthos abundance was observed at P Fcrit(3.89)]. Further, there was variance inequality in means of macrobenthos abundance between 2003, 2009, and 2010 [F(6.54)>Fcrit(4.03)] at P<0.05. A further structure detection of mean difference r...

This study identified the phytoplankton assemblage of the increasingly in-stream sand-mined Imo River in Etche, southeastern Nigeria, as bioindicators of water qua lity. Plankton samples were collected once monthly for 24 months (March 2007-February 2009) with net of 55 µm mesh size that was hauled horizontally along the r course for 5 minutes at 7 sampling locations. Sampl es were later transferred to plastic containers and fixed/preserved in a 4 % formalin solution. In the laboratory, a wide-mouthed pipette was used to with draw 1ml of the plankton subsample and to place it on a Sedge-w ick rafter-counting chamber for direct microscopy o bservation. Standard keys were used for species identifications . The ANOVA, means plots, hierarchical cluster anal ysis (HCA), and the Margalef’s species diversity index were use d to analyze data. Phytoplankton comprised 43 gener a and a mean density of 1859 cells/ml. The dominant phytopl ankton was the Bacillariophyceae (53.25%), followed in or...

Dynamics in macrobenthos abundance and diversity in sand-mined Imo River in Etche, South-eastern Nigeria has been investigated. While 14 representative species, comprising 3 classes (insect, oligochaeta, and gastropoda) were earlier identified in 2003, 9 species of these classes and 5 species comprising 2 classes only (insecta and oligochaeta) were identified in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Though Margalef’s diversity had increased from 1.67 in 2003 to 2.30 in 2009, it sharply decreased to 0.69 in 2010. Over these periods, entomofauna (class insecta) predominated the faunal assemblages with 8 species from 6 families in 2003, 7 species from 5 families in 2009, and 3 species from 2 families in 2010. Significant spatial variance inequality in macrobenthos abundance was observed at P Fcrit(3.89)]. Further, there was variance inequality in means of macrobenthos abundance between 2003, 2009, and 2010 [F(6.54)>Fcrit(4.03)] at P<0.05. A further structure detection of mean difference r...

In this paper, an attempt has been made to document consequences of river sand mining on water quality and instream biota in an alluvial channel as Kangsabati River, India. Water Quality Index (WQI) is used to identify the adverse effects of water quality on species diversity, richness, and evenness of the aquatic community. Physicochemical parameters (PP) such as pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, electric conductivity, salinity, biological oxygen demand, magnesium cation, and turbidity are analyzed from 27 representative sampling stations as sandchar, mining, and pit sites along the upper, middle, and lower course. Pearson correlation indicates that pH and magnesium cation is the most significant parameters with WQI. Principal component analysis denotes good water quality (< 50) concentrated in sandchar sites, while poor (50–70) and very poor (> 70) water qualities are presence in mining and pit sites. Applying Simpson’s index, Simpson’s index of diversity, Simpson’s reciprocal index, and Shannon–Wiener diversity index on instream biota, those vary from sandchar (0.19, 0.81, 5.57, and − 1.34) to mining (0.11, 0.89, 9.23, and − 1.39) and pit sites (0.12, 0.90, 10.68, and − 1.50). Maximum Margalef’s index of species indicated the richness of species types in mining sites (4.62), with minimum mean values in sandchar sites (3.64). Contrastingly, Pielou’s evenness index is high in sandchar sites (− 1.05) and low in mining sites (− 1.49). Therefore, significant physicochemical parameters such as PH, dissolved oxygen, magnesium cation, and electric conductivity changes the diversity index, species richness and evenness in mining and pit along the middle and lower courses caused by sand mining.

It is well known that monazite-mining adversely impacts human health and the ecosystem because of the radiation hazards it brings with it. Research is needed to address local fears about causality. Ranjana Padhi is a feminist activist and writer based in Bhubaneswar. Rajender Singh Negi is a journalist, editor and translator based in New Delhi. Badaputti (Ganjam district, Odisha): Sitting on a plastic chair with his legs stretched out, wearing a clean white round-neck shirt and a lungi, he seemed like a man who had lost all hope in life and someone who knew that the spectre of death was lurking around, waiting to consume him slowly but surely. He looked frail and weak and had festering wounds in his legs; his soles pale, indicating his anaemic condition. It was frightening to look into his eyes with those shadows of death staring back at you. P. Jagannath, 51, has been suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) for the last two years. Having spent all their life's savings, his family now has nothing left to continue his treatment. They can barely pay for his FEATURED The Wire is now in Hindi and Urdu X