Indonesia’s reversal on sea sand export ban sparks backlash from threatened coastal communities

Environmental activists warn lifting the ban could devastate marine life and endanger small islands already threatened by erosion

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A dredging vessel spewing sand imported from Indonesia fills the seabed off western Singapore in 2002, before Indonesia imposed its export ban. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 27 Sep 2024Updated: 5:34pm, 27 Sep 2024

Outgoing President Joko Widodo’s controversial reversal of Indonesia’s long-standing ban on sea sand exports has sparked backlash from environmentalists and coastal communities, who warn the move could devastate marine ecosystems and endanger small islands already threatened by erosion.

Afdillah, an ocean campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia, told This Week in Asia the ban’s reversal “adds to a long list of [Widodo’s] environmental sins, whose benefits are not comparable to the environmental, economic and social damages felt by the affected communities.”

Earlier this month, the country’s trade ministry announced that it had revised the law prohibiting sea sand exports to adhere to a government regulation, issued by Widodo in May of last year, that allows miners to export it as long as domestic requirements have been met. Under the revised law, the trade ministry classified sea sand as a form of sedimentation and claimed its removal could improve the health of marine ecosystems and prevent the disruption of shipping lanes.

“Regulating sea sand exports can optimise the results of sedimentation in the sea for the benefit of developing and rehabilitating coastal and marine ecosystems,” Isy Karim, director general of foreign trade at the ministry, said in a statement on September 9.

A worker fills a wheelbarrow with sand near a construction site in Singapore in 2007. Photo: AFP

Indonesia was a major supplier of sea sand to Singapore in the 1970s, fuelling the city state’s massive land-reclamation projects. According to think tank Tenggara Strategics, Indonesia’s sea sand contributed to expanding Singapore’s land area by 25 per cent from 1976 to 2001.