The second most consumed raw material in the world after water has long since disappeared like sand on the sea.

In the past two decades, global sand consumption has tripled to between 40 and 50 billion tons a year, according to surveys by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

The warning voices are getting louder.

"Industrial sand extraction has long since reached levels that far exceed natural reproduction," says Jerry Tasantab, a geographer at Newcastle University in Australia.

If the annually mined amount were processed into a wall 27 meters high and 27 meters wide, it could meanwhile reach exactly once around the globe.

A recent UNEP report – “Sand and Sustainability: 10 Strategic Recommendations for Averting a Crisis” – clearly points out the downside of such figures.

Sand must be understood as a strategic resource that is not only important as a central building material, but also as an important component of natural ecosystems.

Ten concrete recommendations are presented in the report, which aim at a "more sustainable use of sand" and address political representatives at all levels.

"In many regions of the world, sand extraction is hardly or not at all regulated," says Pascal Peduzzi, coordinator of the report and director of the UNEP Center for Environmental Information in Geneva.

"Although the topic is becoming more and more present in the media, it does not seem to play a role for many key players.

This applies to governments

Before the World Environment Program published the first report on a possible sand crisis in 2014, Peduzzi says, the topic was hardly discussed.

Since then, it is primarily the knowledge of ecological consequences that has made great progress: numerous studies show how sand extraction makes coasts more susceptible to erosion, salinization and flood events, destroys habitats and restricts the metabolism of plants due to turbidity of the water.

Jerry Tasantab examines the consequences in Ghana and reports on eroding coasts and dead rivers.

"The protective function of Ghana's 550 kilometers of coastline is barely intact," he says.

"The main reason for this is the sand extraction."

New laws are needed

The ten UNEP demands, drafted as part of a resolution at the UN General Assembly in 2019, are divided into three types.

Certain principles must be observed by all relevant actors: National and international roadmaps for action are needed, a paradigm shift towards regenerative and circular thinking and the participation of all relevant local actors.

As institutional and legal requirements, the report names new laws that are aimed at increasing the use of alternative raw materials and could generally ban sand mining on coasts.

UNEP calls such a ban "the most cost-effective measure to protect coastal areas from the consequences of climate change."