Sand and Sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources

With the global demand for sand and gravel standing at 40 to 50 billion tonnes per year, a new report by UN Environment releases on 7 May 2019 reveals that aggregate extraction in rivers has led to pollution, flooding, lowering of water aquifers and worsening drought occurrence. The report presents how shifting consumption patterns, growing populations, increasing urbanization and infrastructure development have increased demand for sand three-fold over the last two decades. Further to this, damming and extraction have reduced sediment delivery from rivers to many coastal areas, leading to reduced deposits in river deltas and accelerated beach erosion.

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