UN backs the need for strategic regional planning for sand extraction
The United nations Environment Program has a released a report on sand extraction which demonstrates the importance of the work on the Grantville community in demanding a regional sand extraction strategy in the 1990’s. ENEP’s report ‘Sand and Sustainability: An Essential Resource for Nature and Development’ highlights sand’s multiple values to modern society and called for strategic actions including long term planning and biodiversity considerations over extraction sites. Residents of the Gippsland township of Grantville were faced in the 1990’s with the total destruction of native vegetation in the region to allow unfettered sand extraction. Grantville is on the eastern shore of Westernport, a Ramsar-listed wetland. The community lobbied the Victorian Government to restrict the destruction of native vegetation, wildlife habitat and groundwater resources. The actions resulted in The Regional Sand Extraction Strategy, Lang Lang to Grantville which protected the natural environm...