NATIONAL NEWS
MONROVIA – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified illegal beach and river sand mining as a major threat to the communities along the coast of Liberia.
EPA’s Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo in an interview with this institution said, the huge wave of sand mining is causing sea level rise which will affect coastal communities in time to come.
By: Trokon S. Wrepue – trokon1992seokin@gmail.com
“One area of challenge which we are working with the maritime is sand mining. Liberians, we are using too much sand. We use sand to mode the bricks, we use sand to cast the walls and floors of the house. We are using too many sand and its dangerous,” he said.
He said the sand mining has also extended to the rivers and advised that rivers in which sand mining is taking place are getting degraded. “The miners have also move to the river. The river is getting degraded, wetland is now threatened by excessive sand mining.”
According to him, the St. Paul especially is threatened as well as other wetlands across the county where sand mining is ongoing.
Sand mining in Liberia, particularly along the coast of Monrovia, is a rampant, often illegal, activity driven by construction demand and economic survival.
This unregulated exploitation causes significant beach erosion, destroys coastal ecosystems, and is actively monitored by the Ministry of Mines & Energy to curb environmental damage.
But, those in the practice have transitioned from the beach to rivers and other wetlands which environmental expert says continue to threaten the environment and survivability of those within the location.
EPA Recommneds Dirt Bricks
Mud bricks—often called dirt bricks—remain a sustainable, affordable, and durable traditional building material widely used in rural Liberia, where they frequently outlast modern cement blocks.
Produced from locally available soil, water, and occasional stabilizing agents, these bricks are gaining renewed attention as a practical solution for low-cost housing and a pathway to community-level economic empowerment.
The Environmental Protection Agency has strongly recommended that in order to reduce sand mining Liberians should get involve with the production and usage of dirt bricks which he said is cost effective than the original sand and cement bricks.
“We see that dirt bricks if you mod it properly, heat it properly it helps. If you use it, and its done properly, trust me it’s better than suing the sand,” Dr. Yarkapwolo said.
“We need innovators to go into molding dirt bricks which we can use instead of using our sand from the beach.”
The government according to EPA wants to reduce the pressure on sand mining, promote dirt bricks production on grounds that cement is one of the biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emission.
Dr. Yarkpawolo said the demand on sand as a result of construction work is high and its destroying the environment while rivers are also being threatened and in other places there are no more sand at all.
“Many of the countires in the desert or East Africa are using dirt bricks. It’s now time to be able to reduce the pressure on the amount of sand we consume and introduce the use of dirt bricks which could be more affordable and less of a danger to the environment,” Dr. Yarkpawolo said.
