Sand and Sustainability
This 2026 UNEP report looks at sand as one of the most extracted materials on Earth, and one of the most undervalued. Sand is essential both for nature (rivers, coasts, biodiversity, climate resilience) and for development (buildings, infrastructure, renewable energy).
Main points –
– Sand is critical for construction and the energy transition, but leaving it in rivers and coasts also protects against floods, supports fisheries, filters water, and maintains ecosystems.
– Extraction is rising and often poorly managed, especially in sensitive river, coastal and marine areas. This causes deltas to sink, coastlines to erode, habitats to disappear, and livelihoods to suffer.
– Benefits often go to growing cities while the environmental and social costs fall on vulnerable communities.
– Governance is weak and fragmented. Sand is rarely treated as a strategic national asset, and biodiversity impacts are not properly considered.
– The report calls for action on six fronts, viz., treat sand as a strategic resource, put biodiversity at the centre of decisions, improve governance from small-scale to industrial mining, assess impacts at ecosystem scale, reform finance and public procurement, and increase data, transparency and fairness.
