Assessing the impact of sand mining on economic growth and environmental degradation across countries

Changes in land use, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, natural resource scarcity, and ecosystem degradation pose significant threats to global sustainability. While previous research has examined various environmental challenges, the role of sand extraction remains comparatively unexplored. This study investigates the impact of sand mining, economic growth, income inequality, democracy, environmental policy stringency, and biodiversity loss on environmental quality, measured by ecological footprint, land-use change, and carbon emissions in the BRICS, G7, and MENA countries during 1990–2022. To facilitate the empirical analysis, we employ the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) model to address potential cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity. The results show that economic growth, sand mining, and urbanization significantly contribute to environmental degradation across all regions, with long-term effects particularly pronounced in BRICS and MENA countries. In the long-run, a 1 percent increase in sand mining is associated with a 0.223 percent increase in land-use change in BRICS, 0.12 percent in the G7, and 0.055 percent in MENA. Urbanization intensifies land transformation across all regions, with the strongest effect in the G7. Additionally, a 1 percent increase in economic growth is associated with a 0.97 percent increase in the ecological footprint and a 0.1592 percent increase in carbon emissions in the BRICS countries. Environmental policies are most effective in the G7; notably, Germany and Canada have implemented robust frameworks, including CO₂ pricing mechanisms, circular economy legislation, and incentive-based waste management measures for construction and demolition waste (CDW). In contrast, MENA and BRICS nations exhibit weaker policy effectiveness, reflecting governance and policy challenges. Policymakers should prioritize decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation by enforcing stringent regulations, promoting green innovation, and adopting sustainable resource and land-management practices.