Why in the news
The UN Environment Programme published a major report on sand, titled “Sand and Sustainability”, flagging it as a heavily used yet lightly regulated resource.
Key facts
- Publisher: UNEP.
- Headline finding: no solid is dug up more than sand; only water is consumed in greater volume.
- Demand growth: from 9.6 billion tonnes in 1970 to 50 billion tonnes yearly in 2020, roughly 3.2% a year.
- Built-up area per person: 43 sq m in 1975 to 63 sq m in 2025.
- Market value: estimated at $569.4 billion for 2024.
- Livelihoods: about 2.3 billion people rely on small-scale fisheries that need healthy sandy ecosystems.
What drives demand
| Driver | Illustration |
|---|
| Fast urbanisation (over 45% urban) | Land reclamation at Manila Bay and in the Maldives |
| Infrastructure | India’s PMAY housing and highway expansion |
| Population (8.2 billion in 2025) | Large-scale housing in developing countries |
| Climate adaptation | Gulhifalhu in the Maldives, 24.5 million cubic metres dredged |
| Technology | Silicon for semiconductors, solar panels and data centres |
Concerns
- Rivers: bed lowering and bank collapse, for example on the Chambal.
- Groundwater: water tables drop because river sand soaks up and holds water.
- Biodiversity: benthic habitats destroyed; half the world’s dredging companies work within Marine Protected Areas.
- Saline intrusion: stripping coastal sand lets seawater into aquifers, as seen in the Philippines.
- Health: silicosis among workers and malaria in abandoned pits.
- Fisheries: dredging destroys spawning grounds, hurting food security.
Responses
| Level | Measure |
|---|
| Global | UNEP 10-Point Action Plan: extraction standards, circular alternatives such as recycled aggregates, manufactured sand and demolition debris, less unnecessary use, treating sand as strategic, transparent data |
| Global | Marine Sand Watch by UNEP/GRID-Geneva: uses AIS data from dredgers to track marine extraction in near-real time |
| India | Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016: District Survey Reports to check replenishment before mining |
| India | Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines, 2020: satellite-style remote sensing, GPS and QR-coded transit passes to curb illegal mining |
| India | NGT: halts mining lacking Environmental Clearance |
Background
- UNEP: set up in 1972 after the Stockholm Conference; headquartered in Nairobi; also publishes the Emissions Gap Report and Global Environment Outlook.
- Desert sand: wind-smoothed grains are too round to bind with cement, so even Gulf states import construction sand.
- Types: river sand (prized for concrete), marine sand (needs desalination), desert sand, manufactured sand (crushed rock, a sustainable substitute) and silica sand (glass, semiconductors, solar panels).
- NGT: set up by the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010 to settle environmental cases quickly.
- EC and EIA: clearance needed under the EIA Notification, 2006 of the environment ministry; EIA covers screening, scoping, public consultation and post-clearance monitoring.
- Silicosis: incurable, progressive lung disease from inhaling crystalline silica dust.
- Benthic habitat: lowest ecological zone of a water body, base of aquatic food chains.
Exam angle
- Report publisher: UNEP; UNEP headquarters: Nairobi.
- Key numbers: 9.6 to 50 billion tonnes; $569.4 billion; 2.3 billion people.
- India tools: 2016 guidelines (DSR), 2020 guidelines (QR passes), NGT, EC.