SAND MINING GETS OUT OF CONTROL By Bright Beven Chituu
S
and is an important component of the soil matrix which takes years to be formed but extracted in a matter of days.
Each year, huge tons of sand are excavated from various places as raw materials to aid in the construction of developmental projects. Different categories of sand have unique properties used in different industries such as: construction, metal production, chemical production, ceramics and refractories, glass manufacturing, foundry industry, paint and coatings, filtration and water production, oil and gas recovery and recreational products Despite the significance of this resource in many industries, sand mining has significant environmental consequences for the mother earth, which eventually poses safety risks to people. Extraction of sand is being done excessively without considering the impact it has on the environment. In most cases, over exploitation of the soil leaves behind deep pits on river banks whilst widening rivers. The effects of sand and gravel mining results in disturbances to ecological balance, as it is closely associated with land use change and river degradation. Construction activities in newly developed areas is creating a demand for sand abstraction activities. The activities of sand mining are resulting in the destruction of vegetation,
20
GREEN BUSINESS GAZETTE
agricultural and non-agricultural lands. In Zimbabwe, sand mining activities have led to the reduction of agricultural land. The effect of this is a situation where many people face food security problems. The extraction of sand along rivers has led to the destruction of several hectares of fertile land every year. Similarly, a lot of valuable timber resources and wildlife habitats have been lost due to the activities of sand mining.
Sand miners have created gullies on agricultural lands and forest reserves in several places. Traditional and commercial fishing, is also affected through destruction of benthic environment- an ecological region at the lowest level of the water body. Sand mining has direct impacts on climate change, through Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions generated from the transport of sand over long distances from where the sand is quarried. The activities of
