Illustrative good practice guide for sand mining

Rapidly increasing demand for sand in many countries, combined with little or no governance, has resulted in sand mining causing wide-ranging, negative environmental, social and economic impacts. This demand is the result of rapid urban growth in many parts of the world and the need for good-quality housing and infrastructure. Such development consumes huge quantities of sand, which is used in concrete. The BGS International Geoscience Research and Development project ‘Sand and sustainability’ is working to address some of these issues with geoscience-led solutions. This illustrative guide is designed to enable stakeholders that are affected by or have an interest in the extraction of sand to understand how geoscience data and information can be used for the monitoring and management of sand resources.