A Looming Tragedy of the Sand Commons

Authors

Aurora Torres, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Jodi Brandt, Boise State UniversityFollow
Kristen Lear, University of Georgia
Jianguo Liu, Michigan State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-8-2017

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0503

Abstract

Between 1900 and 2010, the global volume of natural resources used in buildings and transport infrastructure increased 23-fold (1). Sand and gravel are the largest portion of these primary material inputs (79% or 28.6 gigatons per year in 2010) and are the most extracted group of materials worldwide, exceeding fossil fuels and biomass (2). In most regions, sand is a common-pool resource, i.e., a resource that is open to all because access can be limited only at high cost. Because of the difficulty in regulating their consumption, common-pool resources are prone to tragedies of the commons as people may selfishly extract them without considering long-term consequences, eventually leading to overexploitation or degradation. Even when sand mining is regulated, it is often subject to rampant illegal extraction and trade (3). As a result, sand scarcity (4) is an emerging issue with major sociopolitical, economic, and environmental implications.

Publication Information

Torres, Aurora; Brandt, Jodi; Lear, Kristen; and Liu, Jianguo. (2017). "A Looming Tragedy of the Sand Commons". Science, 357(6355), 970-971.