Why are sand and gravel the fastest growing extracted mineral group and what are its interlinkages with economic growth and development? This article investigates.
Mineral aggregates (sand and gravel) have been the fastest growing and the most volumetrically extracted material group extracted over the 21st century. In this article, post-doctoral fellow, Dr Arpita Bisht conducts a literature review to:
- highlight the basis of high rates of sand extraction by exploring its interlinkages with economic growth and development; and
- conceptualize alternative pathways for aggregate utilization in a socio-ecologically viable manner.
She explores how economic growth and development, particularly as they have been operationalized in the global South, lie at the foundation of over-extraction and inefficient distribution of sand and gravel, and proposes that solutions to the emergent sand crisis lie in critical scholarly works that discuss post-growth based systemic changes.
Read the full article online - 'Sand futures: Post-growth alternatives for mineral aggregate consumption and distribution in the global south' in Ecological Economies, Vol. 191
- Researcher
