Tag: sand mining

Sand mining in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta sinks homes, livelihoods

By Tran Thi Minh Ha with Alice Philipson in Hanoi One summer morning, Le Thi Hong Mai’s home collapsed into a river in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, where shoreline erosion caused by sand mining and hydropower dams threatens hundreds of thousands of people. Sand — needed to produce concrete — is the world’s second most exploited natural resource after water, and its use has tripled in the last two decades, according to the UN environment programme. […]