Sand-poaching: Africa’s growing disaster

GIVEN the significance of natural resources such as land, rivers and coastal areas to the livelihoods, income and food security of millions of people around the world, ensuring their long-term sustainability is of critical importance.

However, while the world is already facing the ominous challenges caused by climate change, hunger and unemployment, another disaster; illegal sand mining which is also known as sand poaching, looms in the background.

Sand, a scarce renewable natural resource created from rock, is arguably the second most important natural resource after water. Sand derives its importance from having no other substitutes in many industrial processes and being a critical component of many of the world’s manufacturing industries, including construction, glass factories, land reclamation, cars, cleaning detergents, pottery and silicon manufacture for computer chips, cellphones, and other electronic gadgets.

Unfortunately, for these industrial processes, only river and coastal sand are suitable while desert sand cannot be used because of the finer and more rounded nature of its grains.

Over the years, as industrialisation and manufacturing industries have grown, so has the demand for sand and the sand extraction industry.

However, the growth in the sand industry is not without its own challenges — it is riddled with the emergence of a parallel illegal sand mining industry that excavates sand without the required permits, at undesignated areas, using whatever methods are available and in whatever quantities they can find.

It is often highlighted that although sand is plentiful, its demand may in fact be greater than its supply.

Thus, it is this illegal sand mining activities whose practices threaten the sustainability of the sand resource itself and poses many negative socioeconomic and environmental challenges, that now supplies a significant proportion of the global sand supplies, and unchecked, may lead to a serious global crisis.

Sand poaching is a global challenge

Illegal sand mining is a global phenomenon — happening irrespective of legislation to regulate and monitor sand mining.

It has been reported in Asia, China, Indonesia, India, Singapore, and many African countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, and it is occurring anywhere that sand can be found, including riverbeds, coastal areas, and on plain land surfaces, except deserts which have sand that is unsuitable for construction.

But what exactly is driving illegal sand harvesting activities around the world especially in Africa?

A close look at some African countries’ experiences below reveals that for many, it is a matter of immediate survival versus conservation for future generations.

Kenya

Kenya is facing a depletion of its sand reserves and the destruction of its ecosystems through violent cartels allegedly working with some prominent people in the State. The main driver of the sand mining trade is economic.

Rural communities find themselves with no other recourse for improving their livelihood to prevent being plunged into abject poverty.

In these communities, because higher education is not prioritised and there are limited means of formal employment, sand mining becomes the only means of making a living. Interestingly enough, the fact that sand is a natural resource means people feel it is free for all. Instead of engaging in criminal activities, they prefer to make an honest wage utilising that God has provided.

In Kenya, legislation has proven a weak control in terms of sand mining and as long as the government’s response is not firm and intentional, the illegal trade will continue.

Morocco

In Morocco, it is of note that half the sand utilised in its construction industry is illegally mined from the country’s various coastland areas. These areas bear the marks of savage extraction with holes marring the landscape and a complete devastation of various ecosystems.

As in other countries, legislation appears to be very weak. Even where sand mining is done legally, illegal behaviour persists with miners extracting up to 10 times more than they are supposed to. Again, regulations fall short of being an adequate deterrent and are poorly implemented and enforced.

South Africa

South Africa has tried to strike a balance between supporting the livelihoods of communities that utilise sand mining to make a living and sustainably protecting the environment.

Unfortunately, regulation of the trade has proved complicated, with no clear demarcation of who should be enforcing compliance, and serious limitations in terms of urgency, finances and human capital to carry out regulation work.

The illegal sand mining industry has proved lucrative with illegal sand reportedly being used in both private and publicly funded projects. Besides destroying the environment, the trade is also proving detrimental to road infrastructure that is not equipped to handle the number and size of trucks transporting sand.

For many local residents though, it appears that the pollution and ecological damage are consequences that they can live with, as long as they make enough income to survive.

Uganda

As in Kenya, a criminal element is attached to the sand mining trade. These supposed investors mine and illegally ship sand on a global black market. The laws governing sand extraction have various loopholes that limit the amount of regulation possible. Small-scale minTHE ers complain that they are the ones targeted by the law that ultimately gives free reign to large scale miners.

The lack of adequate human capital at local level for enforcement of available laws also means that collusion and corrupt behaviour are rampant.

The major drivers

Because sand is the main constituent of concrete, the booming construction industry, spurred by increased urbanisation and industrialisation, is the main driver of increased sand demand.

As observed from the countries highlighted above, with unemployment rates staggeringly high, and the laws and penalties governing sand extraction seemingly lax, illegal sand mining creates income generating opportunities for many unemployed people, while giving construction companies access to large quantities of sand, a major input, at a very low cost.

But illegal sand harvesting activities do not come cheap, they carry with them a high cost, probably a higher cost to the society and environment than the gains to the industry players involved.

The true costs of illegal sand harvesting

The main attributes of illegal sand mining include using any possible and quick means of sand mining and harvesting of large, unregulated quantities of sand in undesignated sand sites. These unregulated illegal activities have led to many undesirable and negative socio-economic and environmental consequences.

Illegal sand mining on plain land surfaces is in direct competition with any other land use activity, with sand harvesting being conducted on any land type and anywhere from forest areas, urban and rural areas, close to residential areas, on farmland and even gravesites.

Hence, illegal sand mining is already causing conflict with affected land users. Illegal sand harvesting is leading to the destruction of vegetation, forests and forest ecosystems, land degradation, increased erosion, loss of biodiversity. Farmlands are being invaded, leading to the destruction of agricultural land.

Therefore, while creating employment for a few, sand mining activities are also causing long-term damages to the sources of livelihoods of many households dependent on farming and forests for livelihood.

Illegal sand mining activities leave uncovered open pits and ditches, which endanger both humans and animals, increase susceptibility to flooding and waterborne diseases, and destroy the landscape.

●Read full article on www.newsday.co.zw

●This article was first published in AfricanThinker

●Dr Xebiso Blessing Kamudyariwa is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Johannesburg. Talent Ndabenhle Ndlovu is a qualified agricultural economist. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Zimbabwe (2005) and Master’s degree in Agricultural Science specialising in Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria (2016).