Box : The cases of Dubai & Singapore

The city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one that has put significant pressure on marine aggregates. The Palm Jumeirah, an artificial set of sand islands required 385 million tonnes) of sand and 10 million cubic metres of rock, As its own marine sand resources were exhausted, Dubai imported sand from Australia. A second Palm project and then the World islands project, a set of 300 artificial islands representing a map of the world, required 450 million more tonnes of sand. Eventually, only a very small number of these islands currently host infrastructures. http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/046598-000/le-sable-enquete-sur-une-disparition 

Having imported a reported 517 million tonnes of sand in the last 20 years, Singapore is by far the largest importer of sand in the world. Sand is imported mostly from Indonesia, but also from the other neighbouring countries of Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. Export of sand to Singapore was reported to be responsible for the disappearance of some 24 Indonesian sand islands. Statistics do not include illegal imports and highlight the need for better monitoring. There is also an alleged illegal sand trade. As the price of sand increases, so does the traffic of sand.

The mining of sand, a non-renewable resource

Box : The cases of Dubai & Singapore