A dredger excavates sand at a river beach of Yangtze River in Chongqing Municipality, China
Credit: China Photos

Sand and gravel are the most-extracted materials in the world.

The UN believes that sand and gravel, or aggregates, account for up to 85 percent of all mining activity around the world, measured in weight.

“It’s almost become like air, the air we breathe, we don’t think too much about it, but you can’t live without it,” says Kiran Pereira, the founder of SandStories.org, in the documentary Sand Wars.

While sand might seem like an abundant resource, it is being mined at a pace much faster than its natural renewal rate.

A 2014 report by the UN estimates that globally, more than 40 billion tonnes of sand and gravel are extracted every year.

Here’s how that compares to the production of other natural resources.

Worldwide, the legal sand extraction industry is worth $70bn, roughly the equivalent of the GDP of Kenya.

What is sand used for?

Sand has numerous applications that cut through our daily life.  It’s used for glass and is […]