While seemingly plain, sand is one of the most coveted natural resources in the world. Rivaling the importance of water or natural oil and gas, sand is a valuable resource for construction that facilitates the growth of megacities across the globe. Despite a strong demand for this resource, public and governmental awareness about the various effects of sand mining appears relatively low. This allows for illegal mining activities by organized networks, which are popularly referred to as ‘sand mafias’. Morocco has emerged as one of the world’s hot spots for illegal sand extraction. The illicit exploitation of Morocco’s shores entails serious consequences for the environment as well as the tourism industry. Furthermore, excessive human intervention and sand theft along Morocco’s beaches only aggravate environmental degradation as sea levels rise due to climate change.
As apartment complexes and hotels proliferate along Morocco’s coastline, sand dunes gradually vanish between Rabat and Casablanca as sand is stolen in the middle of the night – commonly during the off-season for tourism. With cement for construction consisting largely of sand, it is estimated that 10 million cubic meters (353 million cubic feet) of sand is illegally extracted in Morocco every year, accounting for about half the sand required for construction work in the country. Other countries such as India, Cambodia, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, and Nigeria face similar challenges of illegal sand extraction.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calculated that the global demand for sand and gravel amounts to approximately 40 to 50 billion tons annually. As the world population grows, accelerating urbanization, infrastructure development, and land reclamation have tripled the demand for sand over the last 20 years. Sand is particularly valuable in countries with large populations like China and India or in areas that reclaim large masses of land like Singapore or Dubai. Yet sand is a finite resource, and extraction from beaches and rivers causes flooding, soil erosion and landslides, droughts, and loss of coastal, marine, and riverine ecosystems in the long term. In Morocco, coastal regions are particularly endangered by aggregate illegal sand mining.
Illicitly mined sand can pose a risk not only to the environment and biodiversity but also to the construction industry. Unlike officially licensed sand traders, organized criminal networks may not wash and desalinize raw sand before selling it. Buildings constructed with unprocessed sand can be thus more prone to safety hazards. In 2013, a sand scandal caused concern in Shenzhen, China, where unprocessed, poor-quality sea sand was used for at least 15 buildings under construction, creating risks of collapse. Unrefined sea sand from Morocco could become the cause of similar risks since beaches are the target of illegal mining in the country.
Another risk associated with illegal sand mining is the effect on local tourism. If beaches vanish, the local tourism industry of Morocco could suffer losses. International airports in Casablanca, Rabat, and Tangiers offer convenient access to beaches with warm coastal seawater and dry, sunny weather, making them attractive destinations for visiting tourists. Tourism in Morocco is a relatively significant factor for the overall economy and for employment rates. In 2016, tourism in the North African country amounted to approximately 6.6% of GDP and provided 2.5 million people with employment. Ever since, the Moroccan tourism industry has gradually grown, rendering the country one of the leading tourist destinations in Africa. 12.3 million people visited the country in 2018, constituting an 8.3% increase since 2017. The Moroccan government intends to further boost profits from the tourism industry, aiming for $15 billion in revenue per year by 2020. Excessive, illegal sand mining, however, could place a stumbling block before ambitious tourism goals in the long term as popular beaches disappear.
Despite such a negative outlook, the Moroccan government appears to be aware of the risks of illegal sand mining. During the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which took place in Marrakech, Morocco, Secretary of State to the Minister of Energy, Mines, and Sustainable Development, Nezha El Ouafi, agreed that Morocco must protect its coasts against illegal sand extraction. Yet it remains to be seen whether the government will be successful in managing these risks. Focusing on the more rigorous control of sand extraction, evaluating and monitoring sand production and consumption, managing mining licenses and policies, and securing accountability and transparency among stakeholders in the sand supply chain may provide relief as the sand crisis unfolds.
