Is the world running out of sand?

Yes and No. Since not all types of sand are useful as a resource and the natural availability of the right types varies considerably, we're quickly running out of what is easily available. The environmental, social, economic, and geopolitical impacts of finding new reserves for various industries keep growing as the demand escalates.

The Goodwin Sands, located in the English Channel between England and France, is an area of immense historical, cultural, and environmental significance in the UK. But a small part of this site is scheduled to be dredged for aggregate. The Dover Harbour Board (DHB) has been granted a marine licence to extract up to 3 million tonnes of aggregate by trailer suction hopper dredging from the Goodwin Sands, to provide material for land reclamation works and berth construction works as part of the wider Dover Western Docks Revival project.

Local campaigners have mounted strong opposition to the project. Kiran Pereira interviewed Joanna Thomson, a Trustee of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust to learn more about why the trust was set up and what their plans are for the coming months.