Guest post: La Tête dans le sable
This month's main story comes to you thanks to Ulrich Wolff who shared that there was another struggle for sand going on in the middle of Europe in Saint-Colomban / Nantes in France. One of the NGOs was invited to share why they were protesting. Here is their letter:
Expansion of sand extraction in Saint-Colomban – Loire Atlantique - France : For whom? and Why?
Association « La Tête dans le sable » (NGO « Head in the sand »)
Who are we?
Inhabitants who are sensitive to issues relating to the protection of our territories, our environment and farming on a human scale. Active since the beginning of 2020, our organization is collectively governed by a board of directors made up of 14 joint chairmen.women.
What are our values?
We want to alert residents and elected representatives to the urgency of the situation and the radical nature of the transformation of our areas/landscape.
We want to reverse the pressure being currently exerted by industrialists (quarrymen and agro business) and highlight the contradictions between showing concern for the protection of the environment (water, landscapes, farming and "local food") while allowing unlimited development of sand exploitation and losing control over the expansion of industrial market gardeners which eventually leads to the disappearance of small farms.
Sand ...
After water, sand is the 2nd most consumed resource in the world. It is a highly coveted resource that is creating more and more tensions around the world. In a report published in 2022 by the UN Environment programme "Sand and Sustainability : 10 strategic recommendations to avert a crisis" Sheila Aggarwa-Khan states : « I encourage all stakeholders, including governments, industry, and civil society to take this opportunity and start the necessary transformations in our institutions, businesses, and societies in how we manage and use sand. » https://www.unep.org/fr/resources/rapport/sable-et-durabilite-10-recommandations-strategiques-pour-eviter-une-crise
In our small community, two quarries have already extracted more than 12 million tons of sand since the beginning of their activities 20 years ago. The deposits have come to an end, so they want to open new extraction sites!!
Locally, the sand from Saint-Colomban, extracted by Lafarge granulats (Holcim Group) and GSM (HeidelbergCement Group,) is of particular interest to industrial market gardening, which consumes around 30% of the production. 70% is used to build houses and roads. These two uses lead us to artificialization of our land.
Our organisation wishes to protect water resources, local small-scale farming, biodiversity and work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
LEARN MORE:
Association loi 1901 de protection de l’environnement
Images © La Tête Dans Le Sable