This report presents the findings of fieldwork on coastal sand extraction in Morocco. Morocco’s marine shores extend 3,500 km along the Mediterranean Sea and western shore of the Atlantic Ocean; most of the sand supply is of coastal origin. Total annual extraction, based on cement consumption figures, is about 10 million cubic metres, half of which is of “illegal” origin.
This report aims to provide insight into the nature of sand mining in the Dar es Salaam area, the actors involved, as well as impacts on communities and the environment. It uses a commodity chain framework to better understand sand governance.
Humans, by a fallacious sense of ownership claim over the planet, have covered earth with more man-made mass than earth’s natural biomass. That’s saying something. It means that anthropogenic activities have been so drastic, so all-encompassing that in the year 2020 the produced and accumulated man-made objects far exceeded what the earth naturally generates. And it is believed that most of this built object, the infrastructure, and materials around us are made up of one core element, sand.
This report aims to contribute to the global debate on sand governance. It focuses on construction sand and maps three interrelated elements: (1) the global, regional and country specific trade in sand; (2) the current state of the social-scientific literature on sand extraction, as well as key policy reports (3) other governance efforts in the extractive industries, to provide jumping-off points for policy intervention on sand in light of sand-specific dynamics.
