Sand theft

Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sand mining leads to a widely unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem comparable in extent to global water scarcity.^[1][2][3] Beach theft is illegal removal of large quantities of sand from a beach leading to full or partial disappearance of the beach.

Global sand and beach theft

Sand theft is a worldwide phenomenon.^[4][5][6][7] Beach theft, the large-scale removal of sand to the point that entire stretches of a beach disappear, is considerably less common.

Two instances of beach thefts have been widely reported in the media: one in Hungary in 2007 and another in Jamaica in 2008. The beach that was stolen in Hungary was an artificially created one on the banks of a river. The other one is a genuine example of a beach theft.

In South India, the problem appears so pronounced that a particular Tamil term – manarkollai – has been coined.

Jamaica

A beach theft was discovered in Jamaica in July 2008.^[8]

The beach at Coral Springs, in Jamaica's northern parish of Trelawny, was 400 metres of white sand. The bulk of the sand in the 0.5-hectare beach, of approximately 500 truckloads, was found missing in July 2008. The beach was to form part of a resort complex, but the theft of its most important feature has led to its developers putting their plans on hold. Illegal sand mining is a problem in Jamaica; the local tradition of people building their own homes has caused a huge demand for construction material.

Investigation

The disappearance of the beach was considered so important that Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding took a personal interest in the theft and ordered a report into how such a large quantity of sand could have been stolen, transported and presumably sold. Police carried out forensic tests on beaches along the coast to see if any of it matched the stolen sand. A three-month police investigation failed to lead to anyone being charged. There were unconfirmed reports about collusion between the criminals and some police officers, but Jamaican police denied any such collusion.

Hungary

An incident of beach theft occurred in Hungary in 2007.^[9] In this case, multiple tonnes of sand were stolen by thieves from an artificial beach created by a resort in Mindszent alongside the banks of the Tisza river. Approximately 6,000 cubic meters of sand were shipped in and lounge chairs, playground rides, and beach huts were added. Owing to the harsh Hungarian winters, the owners of the resort covered the rides with tarpaulin and closed the resort for the season in September 2007. When one of the owners drove by, they noticed that the beach was gone. Hungary's participation in the Schengen Agreement, which allows free passage between EU member states without passport checks, was blamed for the theft by the authorities.

Greece

The pink sands of Elafonisi, created by tidal and wave-induced deposits of pigmented microorganisms living in a symbiotic relationship with native seaweed, were a frequent subject of souvenir-taking by tourists until the Greek government declared the area a nature reserve and prohibited the sands' removal; even today, color saturation levels remain at only around 10% of those in the early twentieth century.

Effects

Although sand theft does not seem to be a serious problem at first, it is nonetheless a serious problem as the removal of sand facilitates soil salinisation. For example, in Cape Verde, the theft of sand has caused the soil to salinify to such a degree, that a large number of orchards were permanently destroyed in the process.

See also

• Resource depletion
• Sand replenishment
• Illegal mining
• Sand Wars

References