[Image above] Neighbors helping each other pull a fishing net in Gentuma Raya, Gorontalo, Indonesia. The Indonesian government’s decision to lift a 20-year ban on the export of sea sand could significantly impact the country’s fishing industry. Credit: Asian Development Bank, Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
In today’s world of complex global supply chains, it can be difficult to appreciate all the factors that drive the ebb and flow of shortages and surpluses. But taking the time to look beyond your immediate circumstances can help reveal the long-term societal and environmental costs that may result from solving current challenges too hastily.
Sand scarcity is one example of a current challenge that could have significant consequences if a solution is rushed. For people living in Indonesia, they are experiencing these possible ramifications first-hand as a result of their government’s decision to allow sea sand exports again after a 20-year ban.
Indonesia: A country of land, water—and sand
The Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world’s largest archipelagic state, comprising more than 17,000 islands spanning more than 735,000 square miles (1.9 million square kilometers).
Approximately 280 million people live in Indonesia, which they refer to affectionally as Tanah Air Kita, which means homeland but literally translates to “our land and water.” But land and water are not the only geological components that make up their homeland—sand is also a major factor, and one that generates significant controversy.
Indonesia is estimated to have about 17.65 billion cubic meters of extractable sea sand sediment in the Java Sea, Makassar Strait, and Natuna-North Natuna waters, according to The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Up until 2003, Indonesia exported this sand in large volumes, particularly to Singapore to support that country’s land reclamation efforts.
Because of the substantial sand dredging, some small islands in Indonesia shrunk or were lost completely. It also destroyed fishing grounds used by coastal villages, which is significant considering Indonesia is the world’s second largest aquaculture producer after China.
In February 2003, then-President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a ban on the export of sea sand from Indonesia to help protect the environment. But two decades later, as demand for sand increased and illegal mining practices benefited from the desperate market, the Indonesian government decided to resume sea sand exports again in May 2023 “to ensure sand mining meets environmental standards and that exports would only be allowed after domestic demand is met,” according to a Reuters article.
Backlash to resumed sea sand exports
When the Indonesian government decided to resume sea sand exports, they claimed dredging would only take place in open-water marine areas away from coastal areas and small islands, and extraction would be focused on “sediment” that blocks shipping pathways rather than sand.
However, the new regulation refers to maritime and investment laws for its fundamental legal framework and makes no reference to environmental and conservation laws. As such, environmental experts worry that the government is not serious about protecting the ocean’s health, as reported in a Mongabay article.
Numerous examples of fishing communities across Indonesia being affected by government-backed dredging projects support this concern. For example, one prominent case in South Sulawesi province had fishers reporting a decline in catches of up to two-thirds since dredging began in February 2021.
With the expanded dredging operations allowed under the new regulation, these fishing losses could amount to $77.4 million, according to the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS). These losses far outweigh the estimated $10.9 million in export revenue that the Indonesian government could potentially earn, as well as the $32.1 million in profits for dredging companies.
Furthermore, the impact on fishing grounds could result in potential job losses of up to 36,400 in the fisheries sector, according to CELIOS, with virtually no jobs created by the dredging activity because it is a capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive industry.
Ultimately, “These policies are not the solution to manage and resolve the problems of sedimentation at sea,” says Muhamad Karim, director of the Center for Marine Development and Maritime Civilization Studies, in a Mongabay article.
