Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SANDLINKS (Framing sand sustainability in a telecoupled world)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-10-01 al 2022-09-30
Humanity is using natural resources at an unprecedented scale. Global raw material extraction grew by 94% between 1980 and 2010 to reach 70 Bt per year in 2010 and is predicted to reach 100 Bt by 2030. Sand and gravel are the most extracted group of materials worldwide. The construction industry is behind this huge demand. Sand is critical for concrete, land-reclamation projects, or combating coastal erosion. Despite enormous advances being made to understand and quantify the footprint of human infrastructure, the “off-site” impacts derived from the provision of construction minerals are largely ignored. An ever-increasing demand for these resources is putting more and more strain on limited deposits, which has led to conflicts around the world and will likely lead to “tragedies of the sand commons” if sustainable mining cannot be achieved. The SANDLINKS project addresses this critical yet neglected crisis and aimed to improve our understanding of how an increasing demand for sand affects complex human-nature dynamics and connects with environmental and sustainability challenges through mining, transportation, trade, and consumption. The project applied and operationalized a systems integration approach, the telecoupling framework, and conducted studies at multiple scales to strengthen the knowledge base and examine the process dynamics and mechanisms of sand mining transitions across contexts, combining research methods such as evidence synthesis, material flow analysis, and policy sequencing. As a result, this research has advanced the understanding of the magnitude and extent of the impacts of mining activities on biodiversity and people and has contributed to identifying pathways leading to a more sustainable management and governance of construction minerals in the 21st century.
The first task of the SANDLINKS project was developing the conceptual foundation of the research on sand sustainability. During the outgoing phase at Michigan State University, the conceptual framework on the linkages among sand use, environmental, social, and economic dimensions was established. The framework was published in the One Earth journal in 2021. In it, the research team introduced the idea of transitions in sand production from subsistence mining toward larger-scale regional supply systems that include mega-quarries for crushed rock, marine dredging, and recycled secondary materials. Those transitions were later examined and tested in two case studies in Mexico and China, where successful collaborations with local partners have been established, including the co-supervision of Master and PhD students. A mix-methods approach has been applied to understand how changes in sand demand and policies have affected human-nature dynamics over the last 30 years. At the global scale, synthesis efforts were developed to improve the understanding of mining conflicts with biodiversity and issues of human-environmental justice. Results of this MSCA are reported in forthcoming publications on (1) sand mining transitions in Mexico and China, (2) the impact of mining construction minerals on species endangerment globally, (3) the coverage of mining themes in international and national conservation policies, and (4) the emergence and development of conflicts of human-environmental justice associated with construction minerals. The datasets collected during this MSCA will inform and enhance assessments of mining impacts and sustainability pathways in the coming years. Some of the findings of the SANDLINKS project were captured by the policy document “Sand & Sustainability: 10 Strategic Recommendations to Avert a Crisis” coordinated by the Global Sand Observatory of UNEP/GRID-Geneva and presented as input at the 5th session of UN Environment in 2022.
Construction aggregates - sand, gravel, and crushed rock - are the overlooked raw materials of the Anthropocene. They make up the biggest share of the world’s human-made mass, which outweighed all of Earth’s living biomass in 2020. With a global market valued at around US$ 390 Billion in 2020, aggregates are the world’s most extracted solid materials by mass. Their annual consumption is predicted to double by 2060, exerting further pressure on threatened ecosystems, triggering social conflicts, and fueling concerns over sand shortages.
A drastic problem calls for drastic solutions – truly doing things differently to put aside problems and create pathways to sustainability. The SANDLINKS project has articulated a new perspective on the global sand sustainability debate. Over the last decades, scientists have developed approaches for thinking through how disparate phenomena are connected over space and time (so-called ‘telecouplings’); such as how a change in policy in one place can have unexpected impacts somewhere else. Simultaneously, industrial ecologists have developed methods to quantify and visualize the metabolism of society through inflows of materials and energy from the environment (so-called ‘physical economy’). The first part of the project developed the framework that connects these different branches of sustainability science and shines a new light on the world’s consumption of sand, looking at pathways for preventing and alleviating ‘sand crises’. Instead of looking at components such as geology, logistics, environment, or policy in isolation, this approach looks at the entire sand-supply network to gain a holistic understanding of the stresses on both nature and people across time and space. According to this framework, using sand resources in a way that delivers sustainable prosperity hinges on a good understanding of the physical dimension of sand-supply networks (their backbone), their environmental and socioeconomic impacts across scales and sites (their outcomes), and ultimately on how people decide how, how much, and which materials to use (their brain).
Following this perspective, the project later applied and operationalized the framework of sand-supply networks and the concept of sand mining transitions at case studies in Mexico and China. In these areas, the research shows that ignoring sand-supply networks’ complexity and the strategic value of sand resources can result in unsustainable “solutions”, including problem shifts and unintended consequences of regulations. For instance, a transition from river mining to crushed rock production risks displacing impacts from rivers towards air pollution, water consumption, and biodiversity of karstic systems. In parallel, global synthesis efforts on mining impacts have advanced our understanding of the impacts of sand mining on nature and people and of conflict triggers and development. In particular, this project has been the first to examine the global biodiversity burden associated with mining construction minerals, providing essential information about the magnitude, geography, and profile of this widespread threat.
In conclusion, the SANDLINKS project has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for the research on sand sustainability and has strengthened the knowledge base of the off-site impacts of the construction sector for delivering more detailed and actionable policy insights. The research and outreach activities developed have contributed to increasing awareness of the strategic role of sand resources and to identifying pathways towards a more responsible consumption of the world's sand resources.
A drastic problem calls for drastic solutions – truly doing things differently to put aside problems and create pathways to sustainability. The SANDLINKS project has articulated a new perspective on the global sand sustainability debate. Over the last decades, scientists have developed approaches for thinking through how disparate phenomena are connected over space and time (so-called ‘telecouplings’); such as how a change in policy in one place can have unexpected impacts somewhere else. Simultaneously, industrial ecologists have developed methods to quantify and visualize the metabolism of society through inflows of materials and energy from the environment (so-called ‘physical economy’). The first part of the project developed the framework that connects these different branches of sustainability science and shines a new light on the world’s consumption of sand, looking at pathways for preventing and alleviating ‘sand crises’. Instead of looking at components such as geology, logistics, environment, or policy in isolation, this approach looks at the entire sand-supply network to gain a holistic understanding of the stresses on both nature and people across time and space. According to this framework, using sand resources in a way that delivers sustainable prosperity hinges on a good understanding of the physical dimension of sand-supply networks (their backbone), their environmental and socioeconomic impacts across scales and sites (their outcomes), and ultimately on how people decide how, how much, and which materials to use (their brain).
Following this perspective, the project later applied and operationalized the framework of sand-supply networks and the concept of sand mining transitions at case studies in Mexico and China. In these areas, the research shows that ignoring sand-supply networks’ complexity and the strategic value of sand resources can result in unsustainable “solutions”, including problem shifts and unintended consequences of regulations. For instance, a transition from river mining to crushed rock production risks displacing impacts from rivers towards air pollution, water consumption, and biodiversity of karstic systems. In parallel, global synthesis efforts on mining impacts have advanced our understanding of the impacts of sand mining on nature and people and of conflict triggers and development. In particular, this project has been the first to examine the global biodiversity burden associated with mining construction minerals, providing essential information about the magnitude, geography, and profile of this widespread threat.
In conclusion, the SANDLINKS project has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for the research on sand sustainability and has strengthened the knowledge base of the off-site impacts of the construction sector for delivering more detailed and actionable policy insights. The research and outreach activities developed have contributed to increasing awareness of the strategic role of sand resources and to identifying pathways towards a more responsible consumption of the world's sand resources.