By: Michelle Kennedy

Imagine waking up one day to find a whole beach has disappeared. In northern Jamaica, that is exactly what happened.

In 2008, thieves showed up in the middle of the night to steal an entire beach. NPR host Sarah Gonzalez reported: “Hundreds of tons of powdery, white Caribbean sand - gone.” This incident, however, was not an anomaly. What happened to the beach in Jamaica was just one of the many sand thefts that have been occurring all over the world since the mid-1990s.

As unbelievable as it may seem, the world is going through a sand shortage. Scientist Pascal Peduzzi explains that “beaches have eroded on average 40 meters from 1968 to 2008.” Across the globe, sand is being exported on a phenomenal scale, about $518 million exported from the US alone, and utilized faster than it can be collected and supplied. Global Trade magazine reports that along with the US, the top sand exporters of 2018 were the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany. Karen Duffin, NPR co-host with Gonzalez, highlights that sand is the main ingredient in everyday items such as concrete and glass. Sand is ubiquitous in things all around us, such as roads, buildings, bottles, even the device you are reading this from: all require sand to be made.

All these items, however, are not made from just any sand, and indeed there are many different types of sand on Earth. While much of the world is covered in desert sand, people cannot use the sand from deserts such as the Sahara and the Gobi. Ms. Gonzalez explains that sand from the desert is too fine and silky to be used in concrete or glass. It is the gritty sand, commonly found on beaches and in rivers, that is usable and thus worth stealing.

When Dubai was constructing the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, the sand from the surrounding desert could not be used. To build the 160-story building, Dubai had to import the right type of sand from Australia. According to the UN, the United Arab Emirates imported $456 million worth of sand, stone, and gravel in 2014. Despite being in the middle of one of the sandiest places on Earth, Dubai required imported sand to build its infrastructure.

Photo of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, by Shukhrat Umarov

In addition to cities all over the world building and consuming sand at a ravenous pace, many areas are importing sand to try and counteract rising ocean levels. Today, one of the biggest importers of sand is Singapore. According to Global Trade magazine, over the last 20 years Singapore imported an estimated 517 million tons of sand. Global Trade also reports that “Singapore has used this sand to increase its land area by 20 percent over the last 40 years.” As a result of this massive import of sand, 24 Indonesian islands have disappeared. Additionally, restrictions on the exportation of sand have increased.

Increased restrictions on sand exports have resulted in crime escalating around illegal sand mining. Around the world “sand mafias” are emerging, killing those who try to limit the movement of sand. Peduzzi explains that “as the price of sand goes up, the ‘mafias’ get more involved.” Today, the sand business produces big bucks for a once-common, ubiquitous item. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, the price of sand rose from $1.23 billion to $2.09 billion between 2017 and 2018. In countries where sand is especially valuable, such as India, sand mafias are more prevalent.

Is there any way to solve our sand shortage? The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration explains that sand is formed from eroded rocks that often originate thousands of miles away from oceans or rivers. Over the course of thousands, and even millions of years, the rocks make their way to the ocean, eroding and breaking down over the course of the journey. One unlikely answer to the aforementioned question would be to wait thousands, or possibly millions, of years for the Earth to naturally replenish itself.

Waiting thousands of years for Earth to regenerate its sand supply, however, is improbable due to our high dependence on sand. Kiran Pereira, a sand researcher, explains that research teams are working to use desert sand for concrete by making it grittier through additives, with which they are currently experimenting. Additionally, there are other ways to reduce our consumption of sand. Scientist Pascal Peduzzi recommends, “when building up shorelines, instead of using concrete, use a sustainable method, such as ecosystems, vegetation and even some coral reefs.” While there is no magic solution to the shortage of sand, there are ways to devalue, and ultimately save, the gritty substance.

While sand may appear to be an infinite resource, according to Global Trade, “it is the second-largest resource extracted and traded by volume each year, behind water.” Even if you do not live near a beach or desert, you are constantly surrounded by sand. Due to its widespread use in everyday items, we find ourselves in the midst of a sand shortage. Despite its high demand worldwide, sand is one of the least regulated trade markets. Additionally, the global sand shortage is a lesser-known issue. With its high demand, dwindling supply, and increased violence, the sand industry should no longer go unnoticed.

The Demand for Sand