cubic metres of sand to the surface every single day. each dredger cost anywhere from twenty five million to two hundred million dollars. but the sand is free. so the thousands of tankers combing the world's oceans have every incentive to suck up as much sand as possible for their increasingly hungry clients. is an astonishing example of this appetite within a few decades this fishing village has morphed into a modern architecture is a sandbox for developers were no fantasies too grandiose. but as projects. of sand and huge volumes of sand and construction projects concrete and indeed just making land has been doing with the with the officially constructed island.

landfills or even bigger consumers of sand and concrete. with a booming economy the emirate launched an ambitious expansion project. after the year two thousand with the price of real estate soaring as a result of speculation developers bet that it would be cheaper to make land than to buy it. the wonder of the world cost over twelve billion dollars and devoured more than one hundred fifty million tons of sand dredge from coastline . with a giant palm still under construction flying high in the seemingly endless supply of money and sand embarked on an even more extravagant project. the world. the world is an island paradise would run president had opportunity can be found it is almost as resort official archipelago of three hundred islands designed as

a map of the world absorbed fourteen billion dollars and three times as much sand as the palm. the world. a place beyond imagination. today the world is a mirage the work site has been abandoned since the onset of the financial crisis in two thousand and eight. deserted island is now parked in the sun awaiting the uncertain day when millionaire buyers will again descend on to buy and restore its glory. to kill the corporation managing the palm in the world the crisis is more than financial overdevelopment is totally liquidated by his natural sand resources and you think we'll find of course dubai is on the edge of the does it they've got old asylum they need like all the gulf states dubai has sand everywhere so why doesn't the emirates simply help itself to the desert. desert sand is the

wrong color end of sand for building a lot of fishel islands why because deserts and all the grains have been blown around by the wind and is typically very round and very smooth if you want to use it to build an island they don't stick together you need sand that that is more angular rougher rougher age say that naturally sticks together. see sand is perfect for island building and construction but it's in limited supply sand is not a sustainable resource. although its own stocks are exhausted dubai is far from given up. the burj khalifa at the time of construction the world's tallest building was built with sand from half a world away. we have a saying in english which is selling sand to the arabs which is obviously

a joke. that that's actually come true in the case of the by. thirty five hundred australian companies exports into the arabian peninsula their profits of tripled in twenty years accounting for a five billion dollar jackpot. and australia is just one small part of a global trend that reliant on importing sand from other areas you see is this huge trade around the world moving from one another for different purposes such construction land reclamation. singapore is another city at the heart of the sand wars. and thirty years the country known as the switzerland of asia has become one of the richest in the region during this time the population is more than doubled and the sixty three islands that make up this city state are bursting at the seams singapore is sort of lying on the import. and for its very existence

in the land mass is literally increased twenty percent over the last forty is and that's largely been reckon nation so literally pouring sound into the sea to create new land. singapore is already transformed one hundred thirty square kilometers of water into land and is planning to add another one hundred square kilometers by twenty thirty. having devoured all its own reserves its for ration potatoes targeted its neighbor supplies. one after another cambodia. malaysia and indonesia have each decided to ban trade with singapore but its addiction descent is not easy to restrain. singapore is being accused of expanding its coast and illegally dredged satins from neighboring states. suspicions of sand trafficking hang over singapore and the dozens of barges still to the brim which unload daily and it's important to prove that the city state has found an alternative source but where does the saying come from.

tommy guns beer. guns. then you come here very every day every week. this is what is driving the show so don't come put it. in. your individual. little. north korean television wors ago. thanks to local traffic and networks singapore and dealers with false identities working for fictional companies continue to find supplies of sand in neighboring countries. but the other can. but in the same system. which i think is it just it was the

business of real estate but this is the distaste. for. the law with the tacit support of the government their most loyal client. the sun trading singapore's he usually have a political is a massive of ours were concerned it's just a is build a. leader in the region particularly with the last global sun that is but their companies will brain imports of that country and should be its human rights violations environmental degradation and damage the livelihoods of local people. the effects of underwater dredging are far from benign. much of the ocean floors rocky are covered with only a thin layer of sand. built up over tens or even hundreds of thousands of years.

as you dredge up a set. of course all the the any walls and. on the sea floor they will all be dredged up as well and therefore whatever living communities are they will just be at the. sand is the primary blink in the underwater food chain remove it and the survival of all species from the smallest to the largest just threatened. like many archipelagos many of indonesia's islands are literally made of sand and intense dredging has triggered a series of chain reactions. ninety two percent in the nation's fiscal challenges come from tension of the city because off d.v.d.'s when this coral reef we lost fish. livelihood. we lose everything loss of

fish habitat directly endangers the survival of thousands of indonesian families but that's only the first of sand dredging to adverse effects. if you have an oil made of sand it's only there because of conspiracy of natural processes wind waves water currents time of year and so if you start removing that. then you've upset the balance of the conspiracy and waves and currents will learn to move the rest of the set. after the extraction of sand a combination of waves currents and gravity slowly fill in the back you. so the removal of underwater sand can have a very noticeable effect on nearby beaches and islands. and so by a combination of the match will prove this is and human excavation the island literally disappear. one of the most stunning and pax of the trade was the

disappearance of some of the islands off the coast of indonesia which have literally vanished when we use that sand. our life. once an island disappears the international maritime boundary changes all is required these become geopolitical issues as well as simply commercial and resource issues. twenty five indonesian islands have already disappeared. like coal and gas sand is now on the frontline of the world's hunger for raw materials. scarcity in dangerous local communities and sets governments against each other. as demand builds the circle only becomes more vicious.

morocco's gentle climate has been welcoming tourists for years. but its famous beaches have also been attracting some strange four legged visitors a constant stream of men and donkeys descend on the beaches seven days a week. in search of. sand. the men in the donkeys have taken so much sand that some beaches now look like the surface of the moon. iraq has been experiencing a construction boom spurred on by a competitive real estate market. the builders are happy but they need plenty of sand legal and otherwise. that.

i wrote that i wrote back i have i don't want to give you. all you know that i'm not going to bend an addendum going to not wonder how you could have been acquitted oh well coming up to you had no love no my love my double got nothing. but not by me i got them help oh yeah. look i do one thing yes i did was really i do what you guys write with their day but didn't come but you're mad you're not going out your head not them have them come we did a little bit about good at going to create a video i like them i like that lap it's estimated that forty to forty five percent of the sand used in construction in morocco has been stopped but mostly from its beaches. loaded on to trucks the sand is sold directly to unscrupulous developers but that's not where the problem ends. without proper treatment salty beach sand mixed with cement is highly corrosive

make america's new buildings ticking time bombs in danger of collapse. ironically the beach is meant to lure the tourists are being stripped bare to build hotels and condos that may turn out to be deathtraps. in mumbai a v. enjoy. the position of being the financial capital of the country andrea also have a huge housing boom construction boom that's because of the influx of so many new people into the city. but the indian economy booming construction has to keep pace and like in so many other battlegrounds of the sand wars easy profits lead to

corrupt practices. the value of sand is such that it's a commercial commodity that is smuggled i mean the it's a big business is smuggling the fam. sand mafia is the most powerful criminal organization in india. a lot of the people. who control of the sand mafia controls a lot of the construction the construction materials businesses in bombay as well as the constructions themselves in addition to that they also control the administration through their political contacts so that just completes the whole value chain right from the extraction to construction the the profits in each pot to fit the administration and the police. under the eyes of corrupt authorities the sand ply their trade in broad daylight and more than eight thousand drugs

inside scattered across the coast and river banks of the subcontinent. for the mafia's beaches are easy prey because the sand is literally within arm's reach so they had even the most popular tourist sites the places where you expect to stretch out on the beach and worship the sun. the tentacles of the mafia's however are just adding to the pressures facing the world speeches. just two years ago there was a row of houses here. about i think about a house though from about here all the way down to the condo and those thousands of air underwater the shoreline with going right past them so they ended up taking

them out of these houses here with their on the the front were row number two and i the fact that these houses won't be here in five here. with both the house about sea years ago hoping that we would be able to retire here. but from here you can see how much sand we've lost underneath the house. because it was up to level with the cement but of course it went out into the ocean. so. the beach area was about the length of a football field and over the last two years the a scart meant is underneath the houses so. the erosion on this part of the beach is much quicker than we anticipated or that is deemed to normal. globally for tween seventy five and ninety percent of beaches are actually

undergoing some sort of retreat and that's only going to get worse. as the struggles of an iraqi painter a syrian screenwriter and a palestinian filmmaker as they come to terms with their lives as displaced artists in lebanon. are two stories the first two groups the last to the. community in my imagination. the roots refugee artists on al-jazeera or. the latest news as a free press yellow first rebellion will continue hold on in july but into next week with detailed coverage classical criticism of capitalist economics to a fifty six billion dollar i.m.f. loan to argentina from around the world these are the victims of one of the world's

most forgotten conflicts and without urgent help they could become a lost generation. xenophobia violent and beating the drum for an ethnic civil war in the heart of. al-jazeera infiltrates one of the continent's past describing far right organizations and exposes links to members of the european parliament and marine the p.m.'s national party generation hate. part one of a special two part investigation on al jazeera. finnegan here in doha the top stories on al-jazeera police in france of fired tear

gas and used water cannon all protesters as the fourth weekend of so-called yellow vests process got underway in paris hundreds of people have been arrested demonstrators are calling on president obama will not call to resign earlier this week his government council planned hikes in fuel taxes which sparked the protests but many insist they won't stop demonstrating until the government meets the wider the mobs documents released by u.s. prosecutors have for the first time directly linked donald trump to financial crimes committed during his twenty sixteen presidential campaign it's also been revealed that a russian who offered political synergy with their campaign reached out to trump's former lawyer michael cohen as far back as twenty fifty. the third day of talks to end the war in yemen are underway in sweden has made negotiator says that a transitional government should include all of yemen's political parties but the

adviser to president hadi has told al-jazeera that that would not solve the problem . and he said he said he had this is not the issue you know going to have such a problem is the military coup that took place in two thousand and fourteen. which cannot be met after that i was little progress. through aggression took over our country had turned off but i did then i believe let's say the hardys out of the way you don't much care less is not going to solve and relax them and on the contrary of what i've said i've also lost there will be the ongoing fighting over. a lot of your problem is that it is there's no you got your wish has hijacked the state so my last question to you do you have any hopes that these talks will bring about some breakthrough i thought. that on the. if you don't want is you know what about peace we are general about peace. iran's president says the donald trump's decision to reimpose sanctions against his

country is economic terrorism the oil and financial sanctions sanctions came into force a month ago off the truck pulled out of the twenty fifty nuclear deal in may speaking at a conference on regional cooperation has some rouhani warn the western nations risk an influx of illegal drugs if the sanctions we come. back with the news out a little over twenty five minutes but the let's get you back to sound.

the world is running out of sand consumed by industry and construction stolen and transported by criminal mafias around the world. behind air and water sand is the most used commodity in the world. where humans have intervened and we've built structures

a wall concrete seawall a highway a hotel a parking lot the beach can't move back and we see long term beach lost. as part of the natural cycle beaches adjust to seasonal changes and summer beaches grow thicker and in winter they recede and level off to better absorb the energy of the waves to survive the ocean salt beaches must have enough space behind them but we've built too close to the shore so with nowhere to go beaches are overcome by the waves which carry their sand out to sea. if you have an eroding beach what is the problem. not the symptom the simple symptom is the beaches eroding but what is the problem. what's causing that it's us. we are drawn to coastlines today three quarters of the largest cities in the world

population are on the coast as the population growth accelerates the world's hyper . increasing density by twenty twenty five three quarters of the world's inhabitants will live near the ocean and those ribbons of sand which surround the continents are feeling the pressure. of the water and i hope that we learn from that but now we're here. and we have to figure out how to make projects. and that's what brings tourists. in florida nine out of ten beaches are in the process of disappearing along with the future livelihood of all those who depend on this economic engine. each year of the planet's tourists head for the beach. hotel industry as well as

recreation transportation food services and a multitude of other sectors in some areas almost half the g.d.p. depends directly beaches. letting them disappear is out of the question. so what we're trying to do is try to mitigate those problems try to lessen the impact and that's why we have to take these unnatural acts. and the beaches. to keep their beaches viable cities that can afford to invest. in beach replenishment there. floor and to the beach. some people see this is a solution others see it as a band-aid which only to. it's the symptom. they've got to put up the beach and say this is beach nourishment but it's just another hole. those big machines that when they go take this there in killing everything within that sand is ground up put

into a pipe crust moved and then it comes out and pumped. life forms in that part of the beach aren't prepared to be buried alive and suffocate it. it's a killing process for the sake of dollars. beach replenishment is a temporary remedy after year two percent has been washed out to sea and the whole process must be started again from scratch nonetheless this method is highly popular to the delight of the dredging companies it's a matter of big money big big influence green it's not a pleasant thing to see you see this beautiful beach but behind it is something that's not so pleasant. in a desperate maneuver to try to trap the sand on the beaches coastal engineers are advocating the construction of dikes breakwaters and all sorts of other structures

. but sand cannot be so easily tamed. the constant movement of sand it is not necessarily always cooperating with the way we want the place to be it will fill up. and all it will wash away from beaches where we like tourists to come and so that balance is something that we all dramatically changing just by building on. all by building a sea wall around the extends out from the beach we build a wall to to contain sand to keep it on our beach what do we do we stop the sand from supplying the neighbor's beach. the tragedy is that people are just not aware they're not aware that an action here is going to have a reaction somewhere else so we all have to be very careful when it comes to redeveloping because then we have

a responsibility because we don't want these great wonderful treasures that we want to share with our children to disappear because of greed because of irresponsibility. and because of just not dan paying attention. in order to avert further catastrophe it's important to understand the source of ninety percent of the world sea sand often a long way from the beaches. for the most part it starts in iraq somewhere that breaks down it might be in a river from ice or snow or rainfall and is that grain comes out of the granite or the sandstone it just gets into a small stream and then a larger river and in a normal world ultimately will work its way all the way to the shoreline. it takes thousands or even millions of years for

a grain of sand to reach the sea and it's a journey full of pitfalls. in america we have been building one dam every day since the dec relation of independence and seven hundred seventy six one a day. eighty thousand dams blocked the rivers of the united states in china where the demand for energy is exploding dams are popping up everywhere so that by two thousand and twenty not a single waterway will reach the sea. and in the rest of the world there are at least eight hundred forty five thousand dams and it's not only water they're holding back so all that sand that should be at the beach is behind the dance.

one quarter of the sand reserves of the planet are hostage to these dams and the sand that makes it beyond the dams will run into another trap river dredger. although it's regulated in many countries it's still a widespread practice especially in countries where legislation this week results about fifty percent of a sandwich or nurse the world's beaches will never reach the sea. the coastline like many other environments it's like the earth was always thought so big so vast that we couldn't have an impact on it we built a dam for water or electricity which is a good thing but downstream there's no more sand so somehow we have to figure out

how to bring all those things back into balance by taking some conscious steps to try to reduce the impacts of those things we're doing as a civilization. on the. ground after green beeches slowly erode victims of decades of human interference. if you read the rising level. you get an ecological time bomb. to see right it's just going to happen a lot more quickly without saying. but it's not going to stop there it's going to take out in all half of manhattan is going to this could take our cities as well it's going. keep coming. the sand is out of it and we have to understand

that. in the middle of the indian ocean and it's a matter of life and death. of the sand divers have been collecting call sand from the lagoon for years and selling its developers. but with sea levels rising this stamp harvesting is leading to some serious problems. sand is a very ambitious commodity in the maldives because this one millimeter of the ocean touching you constantly every minute every second. every year is such a false and it is eat the fish or you don't deny.

the mole deaves are rodent at all but i mean right residents do what they can to protect their homes but many beaches are little more the memories. really not god and i get all of them are sick in a demonic in the home in a box maybe they come up with. the law one nun a difficult adama to go numb the tunnel vision i got in riyadh and make a name on a woman at the high gate at the lodge i didn't have a month old and it will make and the money it will unite in the going to come of it in. several hundred islands have already been evacuated and today the refugees crowd on to larger and better protected islands such as small a capital. already overcrowded new house or being crammed together. but in another better irony of the sand wars new. construction we're choir's ever

more said. we have been in the middle of the indian ocean for the last five thousand is we have it in history that goes but. you can't just die. far from the mild deaves beautiful threatened beaches greed and speculation drive the global markets for sand and show no signs of slowing down. bombay is not an isolated case there's never been so much construction but at the same time housing has never been less affordable. one third of urban populations now live in slums while goes cities in empty apartments are being built all over the world. in china sixty five million flats are empty yet the construction industry is flora xing swallowing up one quarter of the sand extracted on the planet spain holds the unfortunate record as the european country

most addicted to sand in the midst of an unprecedented crisis thirty percent of the homes constructed since one thousand nine hundred six sit empty entire airports have been built without seeing a single passenger and in dubai the emirate continues to build and import sand even if ninety percent of the apartments in the burj khalifa are bacon. but sadly real estate speculation doesn't hold the monopoly on the wasting of sand governments are also to blame. i would construction uses inexpensive see said the strips of asphalt we've built snaking around the world have swallowed up massive amounts of the world's beaches. think about the number of roads that governments across the way have to beat it's the public sector why the law just going to lose the fat. how the sand was

even registered on our political leaders radars. access to energy in the developing world on the forestation on climate change on the reform of the arctic cultural common policy on the common fisheries policy on learned ground on not traversal says i don't access to water without burial for you to find that you need a program to get a lot was before it's going to get on the agenda. we talk about water because we know there's a major problem is that right now in europe and we have had the debates and that we've had the policy we have commencing a policy and soil we're still having a debate. on science we're not having the debates. it's very very crucial that petitions scientists engineers come together and find alternatives for the more for the for the use they used most machines

construction. can we continue to build and at the same time for yourselves from this dependence on sand and. our other materials capable of replacing concrete. from the straw that's burnt after the crop is done you could build straw bale houses which use no cement. except maybe the slab on the floor but and there earthquake proof those houses are perfectly insulated and they're fireproof. you don't have to build concrete buildings you see this building right here this building was built with ninety five percent recycled materials all the steelers recycled it's made from. japanese cars you know it's all recycled steel and when this building is finished it can melt steel down to make more buildings. there's so many materials which can

be recycled i think we need to exhaust those and in the meantime maybe the world changes you know some years ago people used to build not with this quantity of reinforced cement concrete but a different methods of construction but pap's very fine different methods of construction but in the meantime at least we need to use recycled materials as far as possible. like strong metal our homes are recyclable and rubble can be really used to build roads or new housing projects. but these must face our usual inertia and relentless lobbying by the construction industry. construction companies are equipped for and know how to work with concrete so radically changing our construction practices is an uphill battle.

what if there was another granular material that might substitute for saying. there's one very interesting beach north of san francisco called glass beach and it turns out that for years the city dumped all of their trash on to the beach the glass that got broken up by the waves and got rounded and today this is this wonderful sparkly shiny sort of a magical beach it started out as a garbage dump what nature has done a glass beach has inspired people to attempt a similar trick thousands of kilometers away in florida. ability which is something that has to be disposed of and takes landfill space or something like that into an asset when you've killed two birds with one. i think everybody realizes that bias is made out of saying that if people start scratching their heads and say well maybe that's a good use of it to return it to science. glass bottles and packaging or everywhere

they're usually collected or cycled into new containers but when it's crushed into fine pieces that glass can be just like sand got all because of all characteristics it says i'm contaminating regular beach sand it always looks like sand but it behaves exactly like sand so to say and i mean there's no reason to expect a difference. sand from recycled glass is one promising alternative for the beaches of florida and elsewhere on the beaches where it has been tested even the sea turtles have adopted it as a place to lay their eggs. as much as one quarter of the glass that we throw away is not recycled and ends up in the. crushed it could be a perfect component in the making of concrete. compared to natural sand this sand is still too expensive. when sun begins to cost high

maybe. dissociates can't compete with it though and tentative can't compete with that right now there is no competition you cannot compete with something that is going to take the a truck bottom. pricing. as sand alternatives and new construction methods struggle the game budget a must see the sand gold rush is gaining speed and more battle fronts are period. on the coast of britain hundreds of families survived by traditional fishing. but today the fishermen are. a multinational with a thirst for standing plans to exploit the ocean floor destroying their livelihoods . but what an issue does. it doesn't matter. so i'll go so will says of.

the global. companies that come to brussels complaining about it not sure it's because in rules say. and that does rules get to the things we need. so what they try to demonstrate is that by doing it by taking out sand from the not so rare there is no impact. on problem you know madrid know this well enough so they get on quite often with a great deal more preschool seduces a. lot of them seem to move it. just for me and all the while. simplicity. even move. so.

the sub sub. into. a sous st. exasperate of the brittany fisherman has shaken up both the elected officials and the citizens inspiring them to mobilize against the seizure of their sand with. nothing but. perhaps grassroots movements such as this will mobilize other groups around the world to stop the sand wars.

once people. as people understand what the issue is that is whether it's that beach or the beach and there. their lives they. say. there. has been taken. so. totally at ocean but still they have. picked on. by the beaches. and. need. not. fear. the young.

come out. for not. doing but does. and this could. save the beaches. which. is built with sand mining sand as effect. and get that. environmental. fate of the worlds but. perhaps the day will come. with

a fresh. conscious and. as a role model. and in our lot. then by working with nature. to the five small.

paraguayan our focus is the heaviest in the western side across the border. and go down to rio. and all off writing is still there on the focus there is clear movement but it's leaving us northerly breezes average of twenty eight. days. twenty to the continent as should be drawn up. as recently when thirty two just recently. mexico's don't really. need the full. big california as well comes down to the gulf. regeneration billie's. cuba as a bahama now that's one from the north of it but it warm is to excess

so we've got warm more stuff coming through here. so a storm anywhere from northeast winds when the. race. leaves children. it's. a big help. on predators. whether someone is telling paul. because. it's how you approach an official and often it is a certain way. i out. this is.

hello welcome to. provided. in the tent.

with. yellow vest. this. protests cost of living. costs as. well it's. all. a. side street. side street. battles. between. a lot of. stuff. and. the gestures are still.

very angry. this is no longer. to do with. a president. it's a get. against him. they want his resignation. all. but today on the in saying similar. now behind me. battens. piece a huge. to drive. trying to break. surrounding is . increasing stray ssion amongst. us. and entirely but it does seem. that the police. into the.

tear gas. and say that overall. they're just trying to keep the. i mean down to the. who are trying to join the best. like it. and some of the union paid aides and. i'm going to. feel a best protest and so this is going to many hours yet. and it's not. a how long it will. but. something like the best. time here in paris. they just figure around about four hundred. by a lot of. and. i'm sorry i've been

a cation mike. but yes. that was the actual upset that we've seen. we saw last summer. as a huge of. police here doesn't happen. they've got to. right. just in barricades. you can push through. this person. still a very balanced channel for the. on the seans elise and david of the nobody going to hear me of the number. testing. of the trouble how. last weekend in the uk to. surrounded. police found in a way that's going on. all the action. on the shelves at least. i've seen

a. baby saying that fifteen hundred i think is a lot. and as to the other protest is around the. know. of from the police yes but certainly here to be the. crowds here. i think it's probably due to three thousand here in the seans a. very very thing. in paris also in. russia. historian. of the group of. we're watching them once again on the street the demonstration. week comparisons are being drawn. protests of. descriptions like spring. of a fair. by day

a bit of the question. the comparisons to. this. being. so i. i think goes with the air and doesn't hold. about a country that is deluded obviously. is. how. it's. controlled we're talking about people protesting and. they were talking about. the. government will be. a change of prime minister but the president. or. people.

may sixty eight. very different was start. started. at the beginning. who came from. the affluent. rebelled against a regime. about. it and against. and i think. the protests i had. when. part of the universities. that excites. them to. the country.

i've been from the beginning. he was facing a. hated in fact. the first round. in that election. by. percent of the. at the beginning of his tenure. more of. the country's. population. abroad happening in france and. a very strong. now in parliament.

and a majority. in. the far right the national front have been expressed. to growing discontent. i think. from the big. easy. it has been going. he has been trying to reform and change. what had. his. talk to. the general population.

started. between paris and the rest of the country. now. the government. has a lame duck. it is one of the very probable options. is not going to resign. there is no way for him to be overthrown. however he. changed. he might try to change his foreign minister which has been.

tried to impose. so. given. the. french right now. very. very hot to his tenure. i would is going to. is very. giving the impression. that discontent but it is it is there. and. if you look at. your. present. being an internal affairs. and also your. question that and friends once you faced a mass protest and. mass and social. ever seen in the country. at least.