Developers and builders are most interested in the bottom line," Beiser says.In the face of powerful sand cartels, individuals on the Kenyan coast and inland are increasingly defiant.A man collects water on Kikuu River in Makueni.
Al Jazeera English . "I look for other jobs because I know the sand will run out," he says, leaning on his shovel. More recently, as "Big businessmen realised they could make a lot of money out of the sand by supplying the bigger construction ventures in Nairobi and in other cities, and that's when the problem started because it was no longer sustainable," says an employee of the nonprofit organisation Kenya Water Partnership who asked not to be identified.Makueni's residents are now divided between those protecting the sand and those harvesting it for money. "It's like building with bricks versus building with marbles," says Vince Beiser, a Los Angeles-based journalist and author of an upcoming book on the deadly global war over sand.Migration to cities, rapid population growth and construction are driving demand.Sand harvesting will increase in Kenya for the same reason it is increasing in most countries, Beiser says.
The government knows this, but nothing has been done. They proclaim it," says George Mbala*, a county government official.Mbala says one known individual "runs an illegal sand harvesting business and hires others to be involved. He became devoted to saving sand when the mining started disrupting people's water supply.The population of nearly one million in this arid, rural county already contends with prolonged droughts. "Jobs are hard to come by, so many men start mining illegally, causing rifts within communities.Given the lack of opportunities, Mutinda says he understands why miners use violence when residents try to stop them. Residents collect water from holes dug into the sand. 2013, 60 Min. There can be up to 20 mining sites on each of Makueni's Richard Mutinda, 40, has harvested sand for more than one year. During the dry season, locals dig small wells in the sand like this one to gather water. © TV SPIELFILM: Sand Wars im TV - Sendung - TV SpielfilmFotocredits: "In the last two years, at least seven people have died in mining accidents or sand-related violence. Due to the high demand for sand, the planet’s reserves are being threatened. Sand Wars 1x52. Njeru said: "It is the county [governments] that manage those natural resources, speak to them about how they are handling it. "The pressure for sand harvesting to continue is huge," says Gino Cocchiaro, a lawyer with the nonprofit organisation Natural Justice.Atanas Maina, managing director of Kenya Railways, said in a phone interview that among other counties, CRBC, from 2014 until earlier this year, bought river sand from traders in Makueni who had trading licences "with the total knowledge of the county government". [Image courtesy of Marc Hawley]"When they dredge sand, it is kicked up, covers the reef and suffocates it," says Kate Sadie*, a Diani resident who led the fight in court. If the dredgers come back, "we'll fight [in court]".In Makueni, Agnes, the mother of the murdered police officer, says her community is now steadily taking matters into their own hands, ready to fight the harvesters. It is not safe," he says, referring to the deaths caused by careless, speeding truck drivers.Last December, a truck on a riverbed crushed 16-year-old miner Kioko Musyoka. Forty years on, Al Jazeera examines three weeks of war from which both Arabs and Israelis claimed to emerge victorious. A sand truck in Makueni. Without sand to slow it down, rivers can diverge and travel at incredibly fast speeds over the bedrock during the rainy season.
Log in. "I am [a member of the county government] and there is nothing I can do for people in Makueni. Al Jazeera asked one national government official who Mbala alleges runs a cartel and they declined to comment on these allegations.Steve Adede*, an officer with the Makueni Sand Authority, a conservation and harvesting regulation body, says he's been called off from making arrests for this reason.Once, while checking trucks on the main road connecting Mombasa to Nairobi, he stopped a sand truck. Local farmer and activist Anthony Mua Kimeu says: "The harvesters sell the sand to lorry drivers at a low price [but the cartels] sell a truck load for 50,000 Kenyan shillings ($500). Search.
"We will protect those areas; we will resist by going to fight those who are coming with the lorries. During the rainy season, water seeps into and is stored in the sand of the county's nine seasonal rivers. You feel desperate," Mbala says. Near one dried-up river, more than 200 people and hundreds of livestock depend on a sole water pump.Few perennial rivers run through Makueni. His death "pierced my heart," she says.Fisherman and turtle conservationist Said Hamisi Mwaito on the Kenyan coast says coconut trees have drifted away in the water due to dredging. From Mumbai to Dubai, Tangier to Maldives, this fascinating ecological investigation unveils a global emergency: the threat to sand. "Geoffrey Wahungu, director general of the National Environment Management Authority, a government department that implements environmental policies, said potential new harvesting sites must undergo the EIA process. "We know cartels run the sand harvesting because they don't hide. Follow. "[The cartels] oppress us," Mutinda says.
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