River Sand and Gravel Mining: Global Drivers, Impacts, and Pathways for Sustainable Management
18 affiliations
- 1Center for Climate Change and Environmental Health Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore
- 2Earth Observatory of Singapore and Asian School of the Environment Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore
- 3National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore
- 4School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne UK
- 5Department of Informatics, Natural Resources and Environment Institute for Environment and Resources Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh Vietnam
- 6Department of Geography McGill University Montreal QC Canada
- 7Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science University of Illinois Urbana‐Champaign Champaign IL USA
- 8Departments of Earth Science and Environmental Change, and Mechanical Science and Engineering, and Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Champaign IL USA
- 9Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus‐Senftenberg Brandenburg Germany
- 10Department of Social Science Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies York University Toronto ON Canada
- 11Department of Biology McGill University Montreal QC Canada
- 12Department of Earth Sciences Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Kanpur UP India
- 13Postgraduate Program in Geology and Geochemistry Institute of Geosciences Federal University of Pará Belém Brazil
- 14Environmental Engineering Department São Paulo State University (UNESP) São José dos Campos Brazil
- 15College of Hydrology and Water Resources Hohai University Jiangsu China
- 16School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore
- 17State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing Wuhan University Wuhan China
- 18Presidency University Kolkata West Bengal India
Abstract
River sand and gravel are mined worldwide at volumes that now rival their natural replenishment, yet quantitative knowledge of this mining activity and its consequences lags far behind many other global environmental pressures. We synthesize 411 peer‐reviewed studies published since 1974 within a new Driver‐to‐Management Pathway for Sustainable Sand and Gravel Mining framework that links socio‐economic demand, spatial‐temporal extent of extraction, hydrogeomorphic change, socio‐ecological disruption, and management response. Evidence shows a pronounced scale mismatch: regional‐to‐global drivers fuel largely unreported local extraction, while impacts propagate well beyond mining sites. In most documented cases, annual removal exceeds bed‐material supply several‐fold, producing channel incision, bank collapse, declining groundwater tables, deteriorating water quality, and inland migration of saline water in coastal areas. These physical changes cascade into habitat loss, infrastructure damage, and livelihood insecurity, especially across rapidly developing regions of Asia and Africa. Despite the proliferation of impact studies (69% of the literature), research is dominated by hydrogeomorphic perspectives, with ecological and socio‐economic impacts far more often treated as secondary or co‐occurring components rather than primary foci; meanwhile, only 27% of studies quantify extraction extent and 24% analyze demand drivers, hampering the design of effective interventions. Together, these findings highlight the need for basin‐scale monitoring, cross‐boundary governance, and demand‐side interventions that explicitly link extraction limits to sediment budgets.
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BibTeX
@article{park2026river,
title = {{River Sand and Gravel Mining: Global Drivers, Impacts, and Pathways for Sustainable Management}},
author = {Edward Park and Christopher R. Hackney and Dung Duc Tran and Mette Bendixen and Jim Best and Kai Wan Yuen and Hannah Runeckles and Md Sadiul Alam Chyon and Karl Kästner and Sonu Kumar and Halinishi Yusuf and Vanessa Lamb and Lars Lønsmann Iversen and Aelis Spiller and Rajiv Sinha and Eduardo Francisco da Silva and Enner Alcântara and Chengcheng Wu and Chengpeng Lu and Chu Jian and Jingyu Wang and Nguyen Duc Thien and Lian Feng and Priyank Pravin Patel and Jiachun Huang and Adam D. Switzer},
journal = {Reviews of Geophysics},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1029/2024rg000868},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2024rg000868},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - River Sand and Gravel Mining: Global Drivers, Impacts, and Pathways for Sustainable Management
AU - Edward Park
AU - Christopher R. Hackney
AU - Dung Duc Tran
AU - Mette Bendixen
AU - Jim Best
AU - Kai Wan Yuen
AU - Hannah Runeckles
AU - Md Sadiul Alam Chyon
AU - Karl Kästner
AU - Sonu Kumar
AU - Halinishi Yusuf
AU - Vanessa Lamb
AU - Lars Lønsmann Iversen
AU - Aelis Spiller
AU - Rajiv Sinha
AU - Eduardo Francisco da Silva
AU - Enner Alcântara
AU - Chengcheng Wu
AU - Chengpeng Lu
AU - Chu Jian
AU - Jingyu Wang
AU - Nguyen Duc Thien
AU - Lian Feng
AU - Priyank Pravin Patel
AU - Jiachun Huang
AU - Adam D. Switzer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/20
JO - Reviews of Geophysics
DO - 10.1029/2024rg000868
UR - https://doi.org/10.1029/2024rg000868
AB - River sand and gravel are mined worldwide at volumes that now rival their natural replenishment, yet quantitative knowledge of this mining activity and its consequences lags far behind many other global environmental pressures. We synthesize 411 peer‐reviewed studies published since 1974 within a new Driver‐to‐Management Pathway for Sustainable Sand and Gravel Mining framework that links socio‐economic demand, spatial‐temporal extent of extraction, hydrogeomorphic change, socio‐ecological disruption, and management response. Evidence shows a pronounced scale mismatch: regional‐to‐global drivers fuel largely unreported local extraction, while impacts propagate well beyond mining sites. In most documented cases, annual removal exceeds bed‐material supply several‐fold, producing channel incision, bank collapse, declining groundwater tables, deteriorating water quality, and inland migration of saline water in coastal areas. These physical changes cascade into habitat loss, infrastructure damage, and livelihood insecurity, especially across rapidly developing regions of Asia and Africa. Despite the proliferation of impact studies (69% of the literature), research is dominated by hydrogeomorphic perspectives, with ecological and socio‐economic impacts far more often treated as secondary or co‐occurring components rather than primary foci; meanwhile, only 27% of studies quantify extraction extent and 24% analyze demand drivers, hampering the design of effective interventions. Together, these findings highlight the need for basin‐scale monitoring, cross‐boundary governance, and demand‐side interventions that explicitly link extraction limits to sediment budgets.
SN - 0096-1043
SN - 1944-9208
SN - 8755-1209
ER -