Why are stone quarries expanding in Kerala?, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• Kerala banned river sand mining in January 2016 to protect river ecosystems.
• Following the ban, M-sand, an alternative produced by crushing hard rock, became popular, leading to increased stone quarrying.
• A study by NIT Calicut found that quarries near protected areas expanded by 174% in area in 2016 alone.
• The study identified quarries near the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary and Silent Valley National Park as areas of particular concern due to significant expansion.

Detailed Insights:

• The ban on river sand mining in Kerala aimed to address the degradation of rivers caused by excessive extraction, but led to a surge in stone quarrying for M-sand production.
• Researchers used GIS and Google Earth Pro to analyze the expansion of 72 quarries within 10 km of protected areas, comparing pre-ban and post-ban growth rates.
• Increased quarrying poses a threat to the region's biodiversity, with potential for "blue injustices" affecting small-scale fishing communities and altering natural resource trade flows.
• Accelerated M-sand mining can reduce the quality of the ecosystem and biota, as demonstrated by studies on the Mayurakshi river, where riverbed sand mining significantly altered the channel morphology.
• The demand for river and marine sand is increasing in India, especially in urban centers, leading to consequences such as disrupted migratory routes of fish, as seen in Chavara village.

Key Concepts Involved:

• River Sand Mining: Extraction of sand from riverbeds, often leading to ecological degradation.
• M-sand: Manufactured sand produced by crushing hard rocks, used as an alternative to river sand.
• Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem.