Daniel Akill-Attieh's Blog | 394: COASTAL EROSION AND SAND MINING II – When Money and Greed Talk, Morals and Mores go for a Long Walk

Dear Readers and Fellow-Apes; 2008 was a Murky and Hapless Year! Let us hope that 2009 does not turn out to be even More Murky and Hapless!

I intentionally did not wish you a Merry Christmas, because Christmas is another story for another Posting at another time; and I do not wish you a Happy New Year, since I believe that ONLY FOOLS ARE, OR CAN BE, HAPPY ALL YEAR ROUND. I do, however, wish all of you A GOOD YEAR! With a little Good in one's life, one can be a little happy, which is all one can ask for in one's short sweet dream one calls a life-time. BY GOD AND SATAN!

A Jack of many trades and master of all; I am honest to the core and I hate lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and stoic compliance; and I despise – and actually pity – Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack

I expose and reveal the lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and blind, deaf, and stoic compliance, and Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack; I tell or write the truth; and I say what I mean and mean what I say

I fear nothing; least of all, death

If I must fear anything at all in life, then let me fear what I think and know of myself; because, in the end, one’s knowledge and opinion of oneself is what counts most. All the world may think and believe one is such and such, but one knows one is such and such. Also, I like to look in the mirror and like what I see and know about me.

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394: COASTAL EROSION AND SAND MINING II – When Money and Greed Talk, Morals and Mores go for a Long Walk

05 October, 2008

COASTAL EROSION AND SAND MINING II – When Money and Greed Talk, Morals and Mores go for a Long Walk

Sand-mining destroys community resources

The mining of coastal sands for construction purposes and/or export blighted the livelihoods of small-scale fisher-folks

Gleaned from: Down to Earth. November 2001 – the report focused on Riau, and in 2001, but could be applied proportionally to all countries with coastal areas and river-banks – ocean, sea, lake, or river – and inland sand-dunes, Etc, of the world in 2008 with figures multiplied by 3 and no less.

Riau: archipelago in western Indonesia, lying southeast of the Malay Peninsula and east of the island of Sumatra; the islands extend northwest to southeast from the Straits of Singapore to the Straits of Berhala and include the island groups of Bintan, Kundur, and Batam.

Sand-mining in the coastal waters of Riau took a heavy toll on the marine environment and the peoples who depend on it. Riau province, eastern Sumatra, is closest to the biggest consumer of sand – Singapore. Companies backed by Singapore buyers used dredges that excavated sand at the rate of 6,000 cubic metres a day; the sand was then transported to Singapore to be used in construction industries and coastal reclamation projects. Singapore was said, at the time, to require a further 1.8 billion cubic metres of sand over the next 7-8 years – Daniel: that brings us to 2008 and takes us to 2009 – for these projects, which were aimed at expanding the country's land area and providing living space for its growing population.

According to the Indonesian Center for Forestry Studies, 400,000 hectares of seabed and an extensive area of coral reefs were damaged by sand-mining in Riau. The dredging – sometimes within metres of the shore – caused serious coastline erosions, and destroyed fishing grounds used by coastal villages. Estimates for repairing the damage were Rp 7 billion (US $1 million) per square km of seabed, which meant that the damage caused cost much more than the income earned by the industry.

Illegal sand-mining, allegedly controlled by a cartel of Singapore-backed companies, supplemented the legal operations that supplied sand to Indonesia's neighbours. Those companies counted on their close ties with naval officers and government officials to protect them from legal actions. Around 400 million cubic metres were thought to have been illegally exported each year, with losses to the state amounting to millions of dollars in uncollected taxes and royalties – Daniel: Mark that well, dear readers and fellow-Apes! Losses to the state in taxes and royalties, and to Heaven or Hell or Horse-shit with the environment; with the people added for good measure!

Yet the provincial administration continued to issue mining-licences, with the short-term aim of raising revenue taking priority over the long-term problem of resource sustainability. In 2001, there were more than 300 companies with licences to operate in Riau. In an attempt to allay fears of further destruction, the Riau Governor assured the public that 18 out of 300 companies that received licences in 2001 would only operate in areas without coral reefs and would ensure that their activities did not disturb local fisher-folks, but local NGOs doubted that the authorities had the political will or clout to enforce those conditions. A team set up by the governor to monitor activities was under-funded and poorly equipped – Daniel: Intentionally, I suppose. Also, the local NGOs were not concerned over the 18 out of 300; only whether the government could enforce the conditions on the 18 but not on the other 282 companies. I ask you!

One Singapore transport vessel was impounded – the mining company was dredging sand outside the permitted area – but was released soon afterwards without explanations. According to one local report in Bisnis; Indonesia, Singapore, Japanese, Dutch and German companies were among the foreign companies contracted by the Singapore government to mine sand for the reclamation projects. The Singapore government itself had been unwilling to offer estimates for the volumes of sand imported into the country.

Tens of companies that had permits to mine sand in the district of Karimun alone. According to a report in Tempo, a map of the district issued by the mines and energy ministry showed that not one square metre of the waters was not covered by sand-mining concessions. Investigations by 2 environmental groups found that the compensation that companies offered to fishing-communities for the loss of their fishing-grounds was far below the amount the community could earn from fishing. As a result, local income levels plummeted. The mining had also eaten away at the coasts: abrasion had reached over 5 metres in some places. Several small islands, used by fisher-folks to shelter from the wind, had disappeared altogether. The waters were dark brown and smelt putrid. Almost all the small-scale fisher-folks in the district had not been able to go to sea in the previous 5 months as there was no fish left to catch within 12 miles of the shore.

In October, 2001, angry villagers seized a sand-mining vessel operating in the Durian Strait. The boat was taken to the local jetty and other villagers boarded the vessel. They fled in panic when a crew member fired shots at them. One 36-year old man was killed and twelve others were wounded in the incident.

Ban sand-mining!

NGOs in Indonesia and North Sumatra, concerned about the impact on coastal fishing communities, launched a campaign (presumably) to stop sand-mining for export to Singapore and Malaysia, and the systematic impoverishment of fishing villages by the Indonesian authorities and mining companies (but actually, to gather more funds). Local and national NGOs called for a halt to all sand-mining in Riau, action against the environmental criminals who had caused erosions and environmental degradations, and impoverishment of communities; and for the Singapore and Malaysia governments to be held responsible for the destruction of local economic bases and for the rehabilitation of the local economy. Daniel: NGOs! To me, they are no different from the UN (NOT) and all its affiliates; and all the Child-Sponsorship and other similar Aid-Organisations and Groups; all Con-Syndicates!

The UN: After Kofi Adamant Asinine Abhorrent Appalling Ass-hole Anon Annan, and now (Banal) Ban Kiwi-Ki-moon – JEEZ! Sounds like a drunken Chinese Barman’s or Chef’s special – one wonders what qualifications exactly one has to have in order to become The Secretary General of the UN! Actually, UN means NOT: UN-seen = NOT seen, and UN-known = NOT known, Etc. So the UN-Security Council = the NOT-Security Council, and the UN Relief and Works Agency, UN-RWA = the NOT-RWA.

Read: 28 / 29 / 90 / 200 / 204 / 206 / 207 / 218 / 289

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