In every grain of sand there is the story of the world. Sand is all around us ,it is the humblest of all minerals yet after air and water sand is the most consumed natural resource on earth. Melted and transformed into different shapes sand interconnects with our life in ways we aren't aware of , every construction site, paved road and computer screen is made of sand . From the Hubble telescope to the great pyramids of Giza but its more than just objects and buildings. Sand is also a source of Silicon Dioxide, a mineral we find in the wine we drink ,paper we write on and the dehydrated food we eat. its a mineral that is part of toothpaste cosmetics etc. At the same time sand is a source of strategic minerals silica thorium titanium and uranium . Without these basic materials, without sand credit cards bank machines and certain plastic and metal alloys wont exist. Sand is essential to innovation. It is a silent ingredient to human civilization and as incredible as it sounds, We're running out of it
Sand has been used for constructions since antiquity but it was only with the advent of modern industrialized world that industries began to harness the full potential of sand on a colossal scale. When mixed with cement and steel rods , sand becomes reinforced concrete , a material that revolutionized construction . Its flexibility strength and low cost made it an ideal material . Throughout the 20th century reinforced concrete sculpted the contours of urban landscapes . even today two-thirds of all buildings worldwide are made of reinforced concrete and the concrete itself is made from two-thirds of sand . The quantities used is difficult to comprehend , and average house uses 200 tons of sand while a large building use 3000 tons . Every Kilo-meter of highway uses 30,000 tons of sand and while constructing something massive like a hydro-power dam or a nuclear power plant the sum goes into tens of millions .Between 2011-2013 china consumed 6.6 giga-tons of concrete a number which exceeds what the US used in the entire 20th century. meanwhile new Mega-projects are being constructed all across the globe , cities are getting bigger and the world population will eclipse 10 billion by 2060. Urbanization is accelerating and the need for buildings , electronics and infrastructure will grow accordingly . The global demand for sand will grow steadily but it has to come from somewhere.
In the past sand used in construction came from regional quarries and rivers but those sources are now nearly depleted . So today most of the sand used in construction comes from the sea. A cargo ship called the dredger goes to the sea and pumps sand from the sea floor . Initially this was done to rivers but upon realising that dredging sand from rivers led to more floods the ships were sent to the high seas . The North-Sea is particularly rich in high quality sand but dredger fleet move across the globe in what is now a Multi-Billion dollar industry. This has all sorts of environmental hazards to the marine ecosystem .
Maritime sand by itself is salty which doesn't go well with cement so to use maritime sand it needs to be washed with fresh water which produces another long term complication .
Now none of this would have been a problem where not for the fact that sand is basically Non-Replenishable . The composition of sand is a process that takes centuries if not millennia. Time and climate wears away mountains ,big rocks break up into smaller pieces and eventually fragment into stones . These stones are steadily crushed and polished into tiny pieces and eventually reach rivers and deltas . The trouble is when countries construct dams to harness the hydro-power of rivers . Globally there are about 84500 dams . These damns not just hold water but also trap sand . half of the sand that could reach the seas someday somehow remains stuck . The sand upon which civilization and innovation are built is not being replenished by sources of nature .
Now common Knowledge tells us that our planet is covered in sand . The Arabian peninsula and the Sahara desert being prime examples. In fact sand is the one thing we have in abundance or so it might seem. However desert sand is the wrong kind of sand . In his book "The world in a grain " Vince Beiser explains that desert grains are round that have been polished by wind and time so thoroughly that they don't stick together to form durable concrete . For any construction project whether its and artificial island or a hospital , the sand grain needs to have rough edges so they stick together . Sand from rivers, banks , floodplains , lakes seashores and the deep-sea have rough edges which make them perfect for industrial use. Desert sand has the wrong properties and is thus considered worthless. This then explains why the United Arab Emirates imports sand from Australia or why Saudi Arabia imports from Scotland or why Egypt imports from India. Selling sand to an Arab used to be a saying , now its the pinnacle of Irony.
Today cities are being built at a pace never seen before in Human history. Global supply chains are stretched thinly and more and more countries are coming to recognise Maritime sand as a finite resource , the supply chain is not endless as previously believed . The scene in Singapore provides a glimpse into the future . The state treats sand as a strategic resource stockpiling it in massive quantities and keeping it as a reserve something that is similar to the strategic stockpiling of oil and gas . For context the last three decades have seen a construction boom in Singapore , the population has doubled while reclamation has increased its land mass by 20% . This Urban and terrestrial expansion exhausted Singapore's local sand deposits including its sea floor . Since then the state turned to its neighbors for additional supplies to sustain its growth however sand is one of the most dynamic minerals ,when you take it from underneath the sea ,gravity will compensate for the deduction by moving sand grains from higher elevations even over far away distances that means shorelines all across the globe are shrinking in size . For maritime nations or island nations , that is a long term complication especially when factoring in sea levels . So in the past three decade as Singapore imported sand from its neighbors some small islands started disappearing in the south china sea . Indonesia for example lost 25 islands while exporting sand to Singapore which in turn resulted in border demarcation talks between Indonesian and Singaporean lawmakers. In 1997 the situation declined to such an extent that Malaysia stopped exporting sand to Singapore . Indonesia and Cambodia followed suit in 2007 and Vietnam imposed a sand ban in 2009. Singapore still gets by , by using shell companies but the ordeal shows that increasing shortage of sand is turning it into a strategic resource . Stockpiling sand could become a new practice in the near future .
Meanwhile as Islands disappear in the South China Sea International maritime boundaries change or are required to change . Much like how Chinese artificial islands are expanding its maritime boundaries and associated privileges , the disappearance of islands thereby reduce authority .
The Most extreme example is found in India where the infamous sand mafia ranks as the most powerful syndicates in the country. Indian law enforcement is using drones to combat the sand mafia and halt its illegal mining sites but its a battle without end in sight . The Sand Mafia is deeply tied to the nationwide construction industry with deep pockets in the political apparatus . What is happening in India , Singapore and UAE is a manifestation of a slowly building crisis that demonstrates the coming of sand conflicts . When a strategic resource becomes finite it becomes a strategic catalyst for geopolitical strife . Finite resources create Near infinite conflicts.
Comments