Displaced Sand, Displaced People: Examining the Livelihood Impacts of Sand Mining

The social, economic and ecological consequences of unabated sand exploitation are profound. Sand miners, working directly in riverbed sand mining in and around Phnom Penh and urban farmers, whose livelihoods are impacted by the sand infill of urban wetlands, illustrate the complexity of the livelihood impacts of river sand mining in Cambodia1. The governance vacuum of sand mining or infill will impact the type of development seen in and around Phnom Penh, the jobs people can access, and the environment in which people live.