World · Africa · 1 hr ago
Sand mining threatens Sierra Leone’s Mahera coast and local livelihoods
About 50,000 cubic meters of sand is mined each year at Mahera Beach in Sierra Leone, across the water from Freetown.
Young men dig and carry the sand, while local women buy it and sell it to truck drivers.
The trade provides income for families, including women who rely on it to pay for food, school fees and other basic needs.
But uncontrolled extraction is eroding the coastline and harming coastal ecology and local tourism.
Women bear much of the trade’s physical and social burden, even as the work helps them support their families.
Rising global demand for sand has increased pressure on coastal environments, and researchers warn that extraction can damage ecosystems and communities.
Mahera faces a difficult choice between livelihoods and conservation, and the sources do not say what action will happen next.
Sand mining at Sierra Leone’s Mahera Beach is affecting coastal ecology, tourism and the landscape.
Nearly 50,000 cubic meters of sand is extracted from the beach each year.
The trade provides income for local families but leaves women bearing a disproportionate share of its economic and social costs.
The sand supply chain involves young men who extract it, women who sell it, landowners who provide storage and truck drivers who transport it.
- Who
- Young men extract sand, and local women buy and sell it. Truck drivers transport it.
- What
- Sand mining is affecting Mahera Beach’s ecology, tourism and landscape while providing income for local families.
- When
- Sand is extracted annually; sellers can buy it during low tide but not high tide.
- Where
- Mahera Beach, in the Lungi area of Sierra Leone, about 27 kilometers across the sea from Freetown.
- Why
- The trade provides money for food, school fees and other family needs. Rising demand has made sand valuable.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The World Bank published an assessment of sand mining’s scale and impact on selected tourism and coastal communities in Sierra Leone.
Nearly 50,000 cubic meters of sand is extracted from Mahera Beach.
- Annual extraction
- Nearly 50,000 cubic meters
- Distance from Freetown
- About 27 kilometers across the sea
- Sand sellers overseen by Aminata Kargbo
- About 19
- Sellers at the trade’s start
- 14 women
- World Bank assessment
- Published in March 2026
What people are saying
Most of these women have lost their husbands, and the money we make goes to support our children,
Sources
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