As Tourism Expands, Sand Mining Threatens Myanmar's Tropical Beaches.
NGAPALI, Rakhine State — The palm-fringed, white sandy beaches at Ngapali stretch to the horizon and the pristine-looking scenery can easily invoke a feeling of serenity with visitors, who often travel from far to experience this beautiful coastline.
Ngapali's beautiful beaches attract many tourists, but the industry catering to them relies on the damaging extraction of local sand.
Full story with text by Paul Vrieze can be seen on Unearth Myanmar .
This project was funded by NRGI.
The driver of one of the mining trucks follows the well worn dirt road path back to Thandwe city at the end of a work day at the sand mines in Myanmar on February 18, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A young Rakhine man shovels beach sand onto a truck on the western coast of Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Craters can be seen along the beach front where trucks have come to illeagally mine sand from the beach for local construction projects in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 14, 2017. One truck, which contains about 2 tons of sand, can be sold for approximately 80,000 Myanmar Kyats ($58USD). Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A Myanmar man draws a robot in the sand at Ngpali Beach in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 14, 2017. The coastline outside the luxury resort hotel area on Ngpali beach has been forever changed due to sand mining and the implemenation of hotel walls which restrict the natural ebb and flow of sand that comes with the tides - the result being a rocky and changing coastline. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A sand dredger sits on the banks of the Thandwe River at sunrise before workers start mining for the day in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Mining river sand is legal in Myanmar and can earn workers about 25,000 Myanmar Kyats per ton (approx. $18USD). While mining river sand hasnt been made illegal by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, mining from the river for years has had a noticeable effect on farmland along the riverbanks. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Women sift for sand and rocks by hand along the river in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A sand mining truck, typically blue or red, parks on the beach front on the Rakhine coast on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A Rakhine laborer carries a bucket of white sand to the cement mixer at the edge of the TK hotel group construction site on Ngpali Beach in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 14, 2017. Mining beach sand was made illegal in 2004 but has not been strictly regulated. In 2015, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism made their most recent effort enforce stricter regulations on mining sand from the beachfront area. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Freelance sand miners shovel beach sand onto a truck on Myanmar's western Rakhine coast on February 15, 2017. Each truck can hold about 2 tons of sand and can be sold for 80,000 Myanmar Kyats ($58USD). Shovelling a truck load of sand takes five workers about one hour. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A freelance sand miner scales the truck on the beachfront as his colleagues illegally shovel sand from the beach area onto the truck. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Sand miners dig out pits of sand from the beach on the Rakhine Coast into their truck on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Tire tracks from mining trucks mark paths that are regularly used by sand miners from the main road to the beach. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A young Rakhine boy carries a basket full of trash to dump in the ocean in Gwa, Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Local education about land preservation and environmental issues is lacking in Rakhine State, leading to the pollution of the ocean and rivers in the surrounding area. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A woman shovels gravel dredged from the Thandwe river into a truck her company owns in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Local workers are driven in from neighboring villages to work for legal mining companies at stations along the Thandwe River. Companies earn the most money from pure black sand, but can sell gravel and larger rocks to construction companies at a reduced rate. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A sand mining truck is attached to a dredger on the Thandwe River while young laborers shovel sand into the back of the truck in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A Myanmar construction worker cements bricks together to build the foundation of a hotel complex on Ngpali Beach in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 16, 2017. The white sand used by the construction company was bought from the Thandwe Airport, which bought white sand from villagers living on the beachfront in exchange for a new road to the local monastery. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A young Myanmar construction worker stands in the unfinished window of a new hotel project being built by the TK group in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 16, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Local children play football in front of the new road build by the Thandwe government in exhange for mining sand from local beaches to build the foundation for the Thandwe Airport. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Daw Thet Thet Gyi, 46, a land owner in Thandwe looks out over her farm in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 16, 2017. In recent year's Daw Thet Thet Gyi's land has been effected by the overflow of seawater from the neighboring river. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A miner rides his motorbike down one of the paths that mining trucks take to the Thandwe river to dredge sand in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 16, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca
U Mya Than, 59, a peanut farmer from Rakhine State tends to his fields as sand mining trucks drive past his farm in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 16, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Ko Kyaw Thet, 23, a gardener from Thandwe, stacks flowers onto his motorbike after a day of harvesting on his farm in Thandwe, Myanmar. During rainy season the past five years Ko Kyaw Thet says that the water has flooded his entire farm. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Local men from Ngpali beach search for crabs in the shallow water in front of the Hilton Resort and Spa in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 17, 2017. The coastline in front of the major hotels has been changed due to unnatural alterations of the ebb and flows of the tide. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Footprints of miners in the sand by the Thandwe River in Myanmar on February 19, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A local miner stands on a sand dredger in the Thandwe River at the end of a workday in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 18, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
Aung Aung, 19, the son of the truck driver who owns the mining operation peers out to the river as his colleagues continue to shovel gravel and sand into the bed of the truck in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 18, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
A mother and son play in the ocean next to the Merciel Retreat & Resort in Thandwe, Myanmar on February 17, 2017. The Merciel Hotel and the neighboring Hilton Resort and Spa build walls made of beach sand and stone, stealing sand from the beachfront and effecting the coastline by altering the natural ebb and flow of the sand during the tides. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
View of the Thandwe River in Rakhine State, Myanmar on February 19, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI
An empty mining truck with the word "love" scrolled on it in graffiti sits on the banks of the Thandwe River at the end of a workday on February 15, 2017. Photo by Lauren DeCicca for NRGI