Cartels, cement and crocodiles – yes, crocodiles

I’m willing to bet that when you read the words “conflict mineral”, you envisioned illegal coal mines or smuggled diamonds – not the stuff you shake off your shoes before entering your house. And sometimes, nature likes to bite back.

Every so often, I imagine what it would be like to have read so much that nothing has the ability to surprise me anymore. Fortunately, I am always saved from this dire nightmare by some or other piece of trivia that I stumble across in the nick of time. This week’s column is based on one such satisfyingly surprising fact: according to a 2022 United Nations report, sand is the second-most consumed resource on Earth (surpassed only by water). And we’re running out of it, fast.

“So what?”, you might ask. Less sandboxes in the playground, and less sand to be cleaned off your feet after visiting the beach. Well, it’s not quite that simple. The massive demand for sand is not solely fuelled by its use as a playground material. In fact, sand features in many products that we all use every day, such as smartphone screens, microchips and every kind of glass, from windows and mirrors to drink bottles. Its primary use, however, is in the construction industry, where it forms the basis of what holds everything we know together: cement.

Not quite limitless

If you’ve visited a beach recently or flown over the vast expanses of deserts in Africa and the Middle East, you might question how a sand shortage is even a remote possibility. While it is true that our planet is covered in massive amounts of naturally-occurring sand, not all of it is suitable for use as a construction material.

Beach sand, for instance, contains too much salt, which naturally attracts water and therefore makes it terrible for the durability of a structure. It can be used, but it isn’t preferred. Desert sand, on the other hand, has been windblown smooth over the course of millennia of exposure, meaning its grains don’t have enough grip to be useful. The stuff we need for building is dry, rocky and angular – the kind of sand found in the beds, banks, and floodplains of rivers, as well as in lakes.

The problem is not just that we’re using a lot of sand; it’s that we’re expecting to use a lot more in the future. At present, an estimated 50 billion tonnes of construction-grade sand is being extracted worldwide every year. China alone has used more construction sand in the last few years than the United States used in the entire 20th century. A 2022 study conducted by Leiden University in the Netherlands projected that the demand for sand will rise by 45% over the next four decades.

As with all naturally-occurring resources, apparent abundance does not guarantee never-ending supply. Some experts have projected that, if we continue to extract it at our current rate, there is a very good chance the world might run out of construction sand as early as 2050.

The cartels and the crocs

If you’re a long-time column reader, you probably already know where this story is going. I covered the Italian olive oil agromafia in this article and the avocado cartels of Mexico here. Though the locations and the goods differ, the lesson stays the same: where there is massive demand and little supply, crime tends to flourish.

Unsurprisingly, sand-related crime is currently out of control. Illegal sand and gravel mining is associated with organised crime syndicates, coercion and violence, and many other related social impacts. The most recent figures from American think tank Global Financial Integrity show that illegal sand trade is the third-biggest global crime after drugs and counterfeiting.

Read that again: there are more sand gangs than diamond gangs in the world right now.

Controls around sand extraction have always been a little too lax, which not only opened the door for organised crime, but allowed a seed of overconsumption to take root. Even non-criminal sand miners are often unregulated, which is a problem, since their activities can destroy local ecosystems, contaminate potable water for nearby communities and destroy entire agricultural sectors – at best. At worst, they can start altering geography such as the shape of coastlines, the flow of riverbeds and the presence of small islands. Perhaps the biggest irony of this whole story is that we can’t seem to continue building without destroying the very foundation we stand on.

In the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s longest waterway, the extensive extraction of sand has set off a troubling chain of events. This practice has accelerated the sinking of the Mekong Delta, a critical agricultural region. As the delta subsides, seawater encroaches further inland, leading to the salinisation of once-fertile farmlands. This incoming salt not only degrades soil quality but also severely undermines agricultural productivity, posing a serious threat to the livelihoods of millions who depend on the delta for food and income.

Similarly, in the Nilwala river in Sri Lanka, the removal of sand has significantly disrupted the natural water flow, leading to a reversal in the river’s direction. This change has allowed ocean water to push inland, altering the river’s ecosystem in unexpected ways. Among the most striking consequences is the migration of saltwater crocodiles, which were once confined to coastal areas. Now, these formidable predators are venturing further into the river and toward civilisation, creating new challenges for local communities and wildlife alike.

Stopping the flow of the hourglass

A 2022 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report outlined ten key recommendations for governing and managing sand resources in a responsible, sustainable, and equitable manner. The report emphasises the urgent need to prioritise the reduction of natural sand extraction and its associated environmental impacts to avert a looming crisis.

Among its recommendations, the report calls for the elimination of unnecessary construction projects and speculative building, particularly in developed countries with extensive infrastructure. Instead, it advocates for the recycling of existing materials. Germany is highlighted as a leading example (no surprises there), recycling 87% of its waste aggregate materials. Additionally, the report suggests using recycled ash from incinerated solid waste as an alternative to sand, further promoting sustainable practices in construction. “Our sand resources are not infinite, and we need to use them wisely. If we can get a grip on how to manage the most extracted solid material in the world, we can avert a crisis and move toward a circular economy”, writes Pascal Peduzzi, one of the contributors to the UNEP report.

The jury is still out on whether we will be able to convince those crocodiles to swim the other way, though.

About the author: Dominique Olivier

Dominique Olivier is the founder of human.writer, where she uses her love of storytelling and ideation to help brands solve problems.

She is a weekly columnist in Ghost Mail and collaborates with The Finance Ghost on Ghost Mail Weekender, a Sunday publication designed to help you be more interesting.

Dominique can be reached on LinkedIn here.