The conundrum of river sand mining and biodiversity conservation in Kerala, India

Many studies have shown that uncontrolled sand mining can have severe environmental consequences. Realizing these adverse impacts, the government of Kerala, India, regulated river sand mining. The construction industry in the state, the largest consumer of the mined sand, reacted by replacing river sand by manufactured sand (M-sand), which is obtained by crushing the stones quarried from the midlands and high ranges of the state. To assess the impact of sand mining ban on the biodiversity of Western Ghats, the areal expansion of 72 quarries within a 10 km buffer of protected areas was analysed. Using GIS and Google Earth Pro's Historical Imagery tool, we compared the quarries' average annual expansion over the three years preceding the ban with their expansion in 2016, the year the ban was fully enforced. The expansion in 2016 was 1.74 times the average annual increase over the decade, with some quarries more than doubling in area. A comparison with studies from other parts of the world suggests that increased quarrying can significantly affect the biodiversity of the Western Ghats. The study highlights the importance of more holistic and integrated approaches to formulating environmental policies and regulations, to prevent counterproductive outcomes.