Sand Dredging Is ‘Sterilizing’ Ocean Floor, UN Warns

Sand-dredging ships with Chinese flags are seen from a Taiwanese coast guard ship patrolling in the waters off the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, January 28, 2021.
Sand-dredging ships with Chinese flags are seen from a Taiwanese coast guard ship patrolling in the waters off the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, January 28, 2021.
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Sand Dredging Is ‘Sterilizing’ Ocean Floor, UN Warns

Sand-dredging ships with Chinese flags are seen from a Taiwanese coast guard ship patrolling in the waters off the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, January 28, 2021.
Sand-dredging ships with Chinese flags are seen from a Taiwanese coast guard ship patrolling in the waters off the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, January 28, 2021.

Around 6 billion tons of marine sand is being dug up each year in a growing practice that a UN agency said is unsustainable and can wipe out local marine life irreversibly.

Sand is the most exploited natural resource in the world after water but its extraction for use in industries like construction is only loosely governed, prompting the UN to pass a resolution last year to promote more sustainable mining.

The findings from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) coincide with the launch of a new platform "Marine Sand Watch" backed by funding from the Swiss government that monitors dredging activities using marine tracking and artificial intelligence.

"The amount of sand we are withdrawing from the environment is considerable and has a large impact," UNEP's Pascal Peduzzi told a Geneva press briefing.

Pointing to an image of a ship he described as a "giant vacuum cleaner" he said such vessels were "basically sterilizing the bottom of the sea by extracting sand and crunching all the microorganisms that are feeding fish".

In some cases, companies remove all the sand to the bedrock, meaning that "life may never recover", Peduzzi added.

While globally the 6 billion being extracted is less than the sand deposited annually by the world's rivers, in some areas the removal is surpassing replenishment rates, UNEP said.

The South China Sea, the North Sea and the east coast of the United States are among the areas where the most dredging has occurred, said Arnaud Vander Velpen, a sand industry and data analytics officer with the University of Geneva.

China, the Netherlands, the United States and Belgium are among the countries most active in the sector, he said.



Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

 Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

 Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)

A wildfire spurred by hot summer winds reached France's second-largest city Tuesday, grounding all flights to and from Marseille, injuring at least nine people and forcing many residents to evacuate or barricade themselves indoors as smoke choked the Mediterranean air.

A big city hospital switched to generator power, train traffic was halted in most of the surrounding area, and some roads were closed and others tangled with logjams.

More than 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which broke out near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau before racing toward Marseille. Some 720 hectares (acres) were hit by the blaze, the prefecture said.

Nine firefighters were injured, according to the prefecture, or local administration. No dead have been reported.

The prefecture said in a statement Tuesday evening that “the situation is under control,″ though the fire has not yet been extinguished. It described the fire as “particularly virulent.″

It came on a cloudless, windy day after a lengthy heat wave around Europe left the area parched and at heightened risk for wildfires. Several have broken out in southern France in recent days.

Light gray smoke gave the sky over Marseille’s old port a dusty aspect as water-dropping planes tried to extinguish the fire in the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.

Hundreds of homes were evacuated. The prefecture urged people in the affected areas to stay indoors and off the roads. With the fire approaching Marseille, the prefecture also advised residents in the north of the city to keep windows closed to prevent toxic smoke from entering their homes.

One distressed family watched the smoke over their neighborhood in the hills above the port city and showed AP how the roof of their neighbor's house had been damaged in the fire as they worried about their own.

Marseille airport announced that the runway had been closed at around midday. The prefecture said train traffic was halted, notably after a fire neared the tracks in L'Estaque, a picturesque neighborhood of Marseille.

As a safety measure, the city's Hospital Nord switched to generators “due to micro power cuts.”

“The aim is to secure the imaging sector. We are not worried as we have a high level of autonomy,” the University Hospitals of Marseille said, adding that because of the disrupted traffic it asked workers to remain at their posts until the next teams starts its shift.