Over 20 years ago, then Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri banned the export of sea sand from her archipelago nation.
The ban was in response to the widespread environmental and economic damage it was causing. Unchecked sea sand exports destroyed 26 sand islands in Riau Province in Sumatra. In western Java’s Banten Province, sand mining eroded the shoreline and destroyed coral reefs. Even after the ban, illegal sand mining continued but at a lesser rate.
