UN says sand dredging is ‘sterilizing’ ocean floor

Every year, around 6 billion tons of marine sand are extracted in a growing activity that a United Nations agency has described as unsustainable and capable of eradicating local marine life. Sand is the world’s second most exploited natural resource after water, but its extraction for use in industries is loosely regulated.

The United Nations says around six billion tonnes of sand are dredged from the world’s oceans each year, therefore damaging marine life and coastal towns.

Sand is the world’s second most exploited natural resource after water, and it is used to make concrete and glass.

It is needed for the construction of buildings, roadways, hydroelectric dams, and solar panels. It can also help the environment by safeguarding towns from increasing sea levels.

Pascal Peduzzi, the head of the UN Environment Programme UNEP analytics centre GRID-Geneva said, “The scale of environmental impacts of shallow sea mining activities and dredging is alarming.”

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), some vessels were mining both sand and microorganisms that fish feed on. This means that life in some areas may never recover.

The new data corresponds with the launch of a new analysis tool called Marine Sand Watch, which uses marine tracking and artificial intelligence to monitor dredging activities.

It was estimated that six billion tonnes of sand and gravel consumed by humans each year come from the world’s oceans and seas.

Mr Peduzzi stressed that this is the equivalent of “more than one million dump trucks every day.”

He stated that the marine ecology must be allowed time to recover since “it is not sustainable.”

Mr Peduzzi stated that large vessels were “basically sterilising the bottom of the sea by extracting sand and crunching all the microorganisms that feed fish.”

To maintain coastal resiliency and economies, the UNEP advised that sand dredging be banned on beaches.