Ecosystem: Sand Mine in Sone River

10/31/2022

With 50 billion tons used each year for building and urbanisation, sand is the second most used resource on the planet after water.

On the Sone River in northern India, as throughout the country, legal and illegal sand mining is a major environmental problem. The banks are destabilised and make them more fragile during floods. The United Nations (UNEP 2022) recommends its classification as a strategic resource and the adoption of laws to counter sand greed.