Can smart policies solve the sand mining problem?
21.04.2021 - In a new research article published in PLOS ONE, team member Michael Hübler together with co-author Frank Pothen sheds light on a cause of environmental and resource degradation overlooked by economists: sand mining for construction purposes. While sand mining and sand scarcity are major global problems, the authors evaluate policies to reduce Singapore’s sand imports from its Southeast Asian neighbour countries as a prominent example.
While sand has become a scarce essential resource for construction and land reclamation worldwide, its extraction causes severe ecological damage and high social costs. To derive policy solutions to this paramount global challenge with broad applicability, the authors exemplarily study sand trade from Southeast Asia to Singapore. Accordingly, a coordinated transboundary sand output tax reduces sand mining to a large extent, while the economic costs are small for the sand importer and slightly positive for the exporters. As a novel policy implementation approach, the authors propose a “Sand Extraction Allowances Trading Scheme”, which helps sustainably balance the importer’s economic growth with the exporters’ economic development.
Contact: Dr. Michael Hübler