Riceviamo questa informazione sul crescente rischio di distruzione a cui sono sottoposte le spiagge dovuto alla domanda sempre più pressante di sabbia necessaria per la preparazione del cemento.
La considerazione è legata alla situazione del Marocco, sede del prossimo Convegno della Pietra a Secco, e ad un video che bene illustra il problema e l’urgenza di agire per salvare il salvabile.
“One reason given for building drystone structures is the ecological one. They avoid using cement materials. These contain a lot of sand.
“So what?” you may say. The over-exploitation of sand is a severe problem for most coastal areas, 70-90% of beaches are threatened. This is especially so in Morocco, the place for the 14th international congress on dry stone in September in El Jadida. Illegal gangs steal sand right off the beaches, ruining the landscape, ecology and fishing. Much of the sand is used for building hotels for tourists. Often the sand isn’t washed and the corrosive action of salt eventually leads to the collapse of the buildings. This is all illegal, but is not sufficently combatted.
This is all from the film “Le sable – Enquête sur une disparition” (or “Sand – Die neue Umweltzeitbombe” in German). It was schown on Arte TV and will be reapeated tomorrow Saturday at noon, on Monday before 10 am and again on Friday 9th May at 10 am, also available for viewing on the internet:
http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/04
http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/04
The part about Morocco comes after about 30 minutes.
What can we do?
– Raise awareness about this important topic,
– continue to push for using drystone structures instead of cement whereever possible,
– if you going to the congress: chose a hotel made of traditional materials and not cement, or as little cement as possible.
Best regards,
Theo Schmidt
IBS-Engineering
Steffisburg, Switzerland