Extracting inequality: environmental justice dimensions of sand mining

Sand mining plays a pivotal role in global infrastructure development but has triggered escalating environmental degradation and social conflict. Despite increasing scholarly attention, the distributive, procedural, recognition injustices and governance failures surrounding sand extraction—particularly its effects on marginalized communities and ecosystems—remain underexplored. This review addresses this gap by systematically examining how sand mining contributes to environmental harm, governance failures, and social inequity. Using a PRISMA-guided systematic review of 334 studies, 107 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed to identify dominant patterns of injustice, governance dynamics, and environmental consequences in rural and peri-urban contexts. The analysis revealed that sand mining generates interconnected socio-environmental harms through unequal distribution of risks, exclusionary decision-making processes, weak regulatory enforcement, and ecological degradation. These impacts are often intensified by informal extraction networks, limited transparency, and inadequate institutional accountability. At the same time, affected communities increasingly respond through local resistance and broader environmental activism. Overall, the findings show that sand mining is not only an environmental issue but also a governance and justice concern. The review highlights the need for more inclusive, transparent, and accountable governance frameworks to reduce the socio-environmental harms associated with sand mining.