Project Overview

Southeast Asia (SEA), marked by some of the world's fastest population growth and urbanization rates, has emerged as a global hotspot for riverbed sand mining. A vital knowledge gap exists in the quantification of sand reserves as local governments often lack the technical knowledge and financial resources. This results in limited awareness of long-term depositional patterns and socio-environmental impacts, leading to extraction based solely on demand without considering the sustainability of sand resources. To address this, we have used the Mekong Delta as a testbed to create a framework for assessing sand reserves. As sediment budgets are highly heterogeneous across different fluvial systems, there is a need to scale up and calibrate the sand reserve framework and the identification of Sustainable Mining Zones (SMZs) across SEA’s rivers.  The overarching aim of this project is to make a step-change in our understanding of fluvial systems by establishing a rigorous, comprehensive framework that not only delineates sand reserves across Southeast Asia but also identifies Sustainable Mining Zones (SMZs) across the region. Through this, we intend to equip Singapore and ASEAN countries with an innovative, strategic roadmap for sustainable sand sourcing that aligns with the region's developmental ambitions while preserving its environmental and socio-economic landscapes.