Sand from Cambodia contributing to Singapore land growth

• 25 July 2019
• Local News
• 3443 Views

A UN report has detailed how rising global demand for sand and gravel is having a negative impact on developing economies with Singapore in particular singled out for its aggregate appetite.

With global demand tripling in the last 20 years and now at 50 billion tonnes per year and predicted to rise by 5.5% a year, the UN report details the environmental degradation caused by the sustained extraction, despite the improvement in living standards brought about by infrastructure development.

Singapore is the world’s biggest importer of sand and has increased its land area by more than 20% in the last 40 years by dumping aggregates into the sea. Much of the sand comes from Cambodia and Vietnam and extraction, according to the UN report, is contributing to mass erosion in the region.