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GLOBAL assessments indicate that the percentage of total land area that is highly degraded has increased from15% in 1991 to 25% by 2011(UNCCD, 2013).

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO, 2011), estimated that every year, 24 billion tonnes of fertile soils are lost through erosion alone.

In Zimbabwe, soil erosion remains one the biggest environmental challenges. Whitlow (1988) contends that 1,848,000 hectares of land in all agro-ecological regions in Zimbabwe are eroded and an average of 76 tonnes of soil is lost per hectare through soil erosion.

Sustainable Development Goal number 15 aims at combating desertification as well as halting and reversing land degradation.

Sand mining and transportation
Sand and clay mining is one of the major drivers to land degradation in Zimbabwe’s urban, semi urban and rural service centres centre as well as growth points, mainly due to construction activities.

Most of the miners of sand and clay do so from undesignated points and do not rehabilitate the land afterwards.

The abandoned sites are characterised by severe land degradation, with huge open pits which are a death trap to human beings and animals.

Limited livelihood options to the urban dwellers have worsened the country’s disposition to illegal sand mining.

Impacts of sand mining
Sand mining results in the following adverse effects:
– It is a direct cause of soil erosion as soil particles are loosened during extraction and movement of vehicles.
– Causes turbidity in water which disrupts photosynthesis on aquatic plants and blocks fish gills.
– Massive deforestation especially where brick moulding is practised.
– Abandoned pits are life threatening to humans and animals, both wild and domestic.
– Sand abstraction also threatens infrastructure such as roads.
– Destruction of agricultural land thereby threatening to livelihoods and food security.
– Causes air pollution as dust particles are released into the atmosphere.

Legislation
According to Statutory Instrument 7 of 2007 for EIA and Ecosystem Protection;

“No person shall excavate, remove, possess or licence the removal of clay or sand deposit for commercial purposes without a licence by the Agency.”

The extraction of sand should be carefully monitored in order to prevent land degradation that may ravage the aesthetic value for the environment.

Ecosystems protection is everyone’s responsibility; therefore, anyone who wishes to excavate sand or clay should apply for a licence from the Agency.

The applicant must first consult the Local Authority for a designated piece of land from where the extraction can be done.

The local inspectors together with the applicant then come up with a detailed excavation and Environmental Rehabilitation/Management Plan for the site for consideration by the Agency before extraction.

There are two types of licences;
– Sand extraction licence.
– Sand transportation licence.

Sand extraction licence
The applicant completes an application form available at any EMA office country wide. The form should be endorsed by the Local Authority, lessee or land owner.

A standard extraction point should measure 20X20 metres for sand extraction and an Environmental Management Plan should be produced and submitted to any EMA office together with the completed application form.

A nominal quarterly fee is paid by the applicant per extraction point for licence renewal.

For those who wish to engage in brick moulding, the process of applying for a licence is similar to the one above.

Sand transporters licence
The sand transporter completes an application form and submits it together with copies of:

– Certificate of fitness of the vehicle.
– Photographs of the front and rear of the vehicle.
– Vehicle registration book.
– National identity card of the vehicle owner.
– Certificate of incorporation for companies.

The sand transportation license is renewed quarterly for a nominal fee per truck.

Review Process
After the submission for the application, the Director-General may consider the application within a period of thirty working days, or may require further information desirable for sustainable utilisation of the resources before a licence can be issued or rejected.

However, if the applicant has been granted the certificate and has failed to comply with the stipulated requirements of the environmental rehabilitation plan the agency may cancel the certificate.

The routine inspections to check on compliance to the rehabilitation plan are conducted on a monthly basis.

In addition; anyone who contravenes the law shall be liable to a fine that not exceeding level fourteen or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.

Prevent veld fires; construct standard fireguards that are at least 9 metres wide right round your property.