Sand Crisis: Are We Running Out of Sand?

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has issued a global "sand crisis" warning.

(Photo : Photo by MATHILDE BELLENGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Because of rising urbanization and population growth, worldwide demand for sand, which is used to make popular materials like glass and concrete, has grown throughout time.

Sands

Sand is the most extensively utilized natural resource after freshwater.

It is an essential component of many building goods, such as concrete, asphalt, and glass, and is critical in today's society.

The UN estimates that the building sector extracts and consumes up to 40 billion tonnes of sand per year. To put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of 18 kg of sand every day per person in the world, according to a new study. A sand wall 27 meters wide and 27 meters high may be built across the world every year.

Sand is used for building nearly all houses, skyscrapers, highways, trains, and even detergents and cosmetics, and demand has skyrocketed in the last two decades. Around half of the yearly quantity is utilized in concrete.

Huge development projects in China and India have fueled demand. China is said to absorb more than half of the world's concrete supply. It used more concrete between 2011 and 2014 than the United States did over the whole twentieth century.

Also Read: Urban Expansion May Spell Extinction to More than 850 Species

Rising Demands

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Demand is projected to remain steady. By 2050, it is expected that two-thirds of humankind will live in cities. By the middle of the century, India's sand demand, which is second only to China's, is predicted to rise from 1.32 billion to 1.7 billion people. Since the 1960s, Singapore has extended its land area by 20% by importing enormous coastal sand from Malaysia and Singapore. Hong Kong has reclaimed land in some areas, and Dubai has undertaken substantial development projects.

Running Out?

According to a new UNEP assessment, we could create an 88-foot-wide and high wall around the world with the quantity of sand used in a year.

Despite being the second 'most consumed resource after water, its usage is virtually uncontrolled, according to Reuters, with the UNEP warning that we're using it more quickly than the natural mechanism.

"We need to dramatically transform the way we manufacture, build, and consume products, infrastructures, and services to achieve sustainable development," Pascal Peduzzi, UNEP's program coordinator for the study, said in a statement. "Our sand resources are finite, and we must make judicious use."

Sand is also necessary for the existence of many different kinds of plants and animals. Hence its overexploitation adds to biodiversity loss. Peduzzi made it plain that time is of the essence.

"We can escape a disaster and move toward a circular economy if we can handle how to manage the world's most exploited solid resource," he continued.

Look for Alternatives

As a result, the UNEP advises that suitable alternatives, such as crushed rock or other mining wastes, be incentivized.

According to the research, a central body or organization should be formed to keep track of our worldwide consumption of sand.

Last year, ecologist Aurora Torres of the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium told Reuters, "This isn't a significant problem for simply particular regions." "Sand is a vital resource for all countries."