Sand Mining
- ejorigin
- Feb 17, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 27, 2025
Written by: Kristen Yee (24-U6)
Designed by: Hung Jia Xuan (24-I6)
If there’s one thing that Singapore needs, it’s sand. Look around, and you’ll find a concrete jungle with a skyline dominated by ever-growing skyscrapers. Sand makes up 80% of cement and forms a huge part of reclaimed land. This is the main reason for our voracious appetite for sand: since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has expanded its land area by nearly 25% from 578 to 710 square kilometres. Huge quantities of sand are required for this, with as much as 37.5 million cubic metres of sand required to reclaim 1 square kilometre of land.
Singapore is not alone in this, however. Rapid urbanisation and growing populations worldwide have also led to a spiking demand for new buildings and thus sand. According to the UN, sand is the second most exploited resource in the world after water and the demand for sand is booming. China alone consumed more concrete in 3 years than the US has in the entire 20th century.
All this sand mainly comes from riverbeds and beaches. However, this mining can drastically scar the environment and local communities. Dredging by sand boats scrapes sand from the bottom of lakes and rivers — destroying the natural habitats of many fishes and bottom dwellers. It disturbs sediment, creating murky waters that block sunlight from reaching underwater plants. Poyang Lake — one of the world's biggest sand mines — is also one of Asia's biggest wintering sites for migratory birds, with up to 300 species of birds, including the endangered Siberian crane, resting there during the winter season. It is also home to the Yangtze River or finless porpoise, of which there are less than 2000 remaining. However, many of these species are now at risk due to sand dredging; the finless porpoise now face difficulties using their vision and sonar to find food due to the sediment stirred up and noise from the sand boats, and the habitats of many fish and bird species have shrunk dramatically. According to the UNEP’s Pascal Peduzzi, sand mining essentially sterilises the bottom of the sea and often, “life may never recover”.
While the environmental impact of sand mining is devastating, the human cost is equally alarming. Dredging reduces local water supply by salinating aquifers and increasing runoff, restricting the water farmers need for irrigation. Sand mining also decimates local fish populations, harming the people who rely on them for a living.
Sand mining has also resulted in extensive infrastructure damage; the displaced silt clogs drains and the sand extracted from riverbanks undermines the foundations of bridges and other buildings. 70 people have been killed from sand mining caused bridge collapses in Taiwan and Portugal in 2000 and 2001.
Perhaps the most drastic consequence is felt in Indonesia, where at least 24 small islands have vanished since 2005 as a result of erosion caused by illegal sand mining.
The insatiable global demand for sand has even spurred the emergence of criminal "sand mafias" aiming for quick profits. Overall, the global illicit sand trade rakes in $200 billion and $350 billion annually, surpassing the combined value of illegal logging, gold mining and fishing.
According to the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), an NGO documenting the impacts of mining, at least 12 citizens and two police officers were killed by sand mafias in Bihar between December 2020 and March 2022. Journalists brave enough to expose these activities face deadly risks; in 2019, a journalist was burned to death for his relentless reporting on sand mafia activity in northern India.
The most alarming thing about this trend is the role Singapore plays in it.
A report by British anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Global Witness claimed that Singapore has been purchasing sand illegally and unsustainably dredged from Cambodia's Koh Kong Province. While the Singaporean government asserts that sand imports are conducted on a commercial basis without government involvement, statutory boards like JTC, which is under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, are often involved.
Global Witness also uncovered Cambodian sand dredging licences bearing the signature and stamp of a representative of the Singapore Embassy in Cambodia. Despite regulations requiring environmental assessments and compliance with source country laws, allegations have surfaced that some Singaporean companies might be sourcing sand from companies that mine in protected areas, disregarding local livelihoods and environmental safeguards.
What’s also concerning is the discrepancies in the reports. In 2008, Singapore reported having imported only 3 million tonnes of sand from Malaysia. However, the Malaysian government claimed that Singapore actually imported a staggering 133 million tonnes, with almost all of it being allegedly smuggled. To put this into perspective, that is enough to fill around 53,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools. A 2010 investigation by the Malaysian newspaper The Star revealed that ships licensed to transport sand within Malaysia to ports like Tanjung Pelepas or Danga Bay were instead diverted to Singapore’s Pulau Punggol Timur. The newspaper estimated that since 2007, around 3 million cubic metres of river sand had been funnelled through this route.
Singapore's hypocrisy is glaring. While Singapore champions biodiversity and conservation within our own borders, in possibly purchasing sand mined unsustainably, we potentially fuel ecological destruction abroad. Moreover, while Singapore benefits heavily economically from these sand imports, it could do so at the expense of vulnerable communities elsewhere. If we want to commit to environmental stewardship, we simply cannot turn a blind eye to the ecological exploitation that underlies sand mining.
As global demand for sand continues to surge, we face the alarming possibility of depleting this critical resource. In 2022, researchers found that we are consuming sand at a pace that far outstrips nature's ability to replenish sand, projecting that 2050 is the date we will run out of construction-grade sand. All is not lost, however; researchers are making huge strides in using recycled materials and designing alternatives to sand.
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University have developed the first monitoring system that quantifies the exact scale and extent of illegal sand mining. Their map also pinpoints locations where more sand is naturally deposited which can then potentially be designated by the authorities as legal, lower impact mining sites. Singapore has also adopted empoldering, where a sea wall is built before the water is drained using pumps. Alternative materials such as recycled construction debris, incineration ash and graphene have also been in the works to alleviate demand for sand.
With that said, could we possibly be facing empty beaches and an ecological disaster in the future? Ultimately, that is up to us.
Sources
The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince Beiser
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