Introduction
Despite its prevalence, sand is rarely closely scrutinised. When we do focus our gaze on this granular material, its unique and remarkable characteristics become apparent. In this story of a ‘sandscape walk’ around a small island in the Maldives, we reveal how sand, with its multiple forms of movement and stillness, haunts and enlivens human and non-human environments, contributing to the island’s ever-changing sense of place.
Sand
Sand plays a critical role in the global industrial economy where it is used in increasingly large quantities in construction and manufacturing sectors. It is also closely associated with recreation and is a significant cultural product for tourism and beach holidays. Importantly, it forms habitats for numerous flora and fauna. The intertidal zone of sandy beaches is particularly rich in biodiversity, supporting a wide range of species.
What is sand?
Sand is a granular material composed of finely broken-down particles of rock and mineral. The most common type of sand is silica, which is typically found in inland continental and temperate areas. In tropical regions, sand is mainly constituted by calcium carbonate created over millions of years by various forms of life, such as coral and shellfish. Thus, while temperate beaches mostly rely on sediment input from terrestrial sources, such as rivers and eroding cliffs, coral sand beaches rely on biogenic processes such as coral senescence, coral grazing and excretion for sand production. For these processes to function optimally and create a steady supply of sand, healthy reef and lagoon ecosystems are required.
Different types of sand
There are many different types of coral sand in the Maldives. Sand that accumulates on the shoreline to form beaches is typically finer and whiter. These are the types of beaches sought by tourists and marketed internationally by resorts and guesthouses. Sand that is found on the seabed in lagoons, or has been pumped to form reclaimed beaches, tends to be coarser and darker. The following images illustrate the many different colours and textures of sand found on Maldivian islands.
The Maldives
The Maldives is an archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean whose islands are formed through tropical, biogenic processes of sand formation. The country is made up of approximately 1200 of these islands grouped into 20 atolls. Its 2019 Household Income and Expenditure Survey recorded a population of 451,622 people dispersed across 185 islands, referred to as ‘inhabited’ islands. Of these people, around half live in the national capital, Male’. A further 130 islands are used as locations for luxury holiday resorts. In recent years, the growth of tourism has contributed to the rapid expansion of the built environment on many inhabited islands. Besides tourism, tuna fishing is also central to the economy of the Maldives.
The Island
The sandscape walk takes place on an inhabited island located in North Male’ atoll, about 40kms from Male’. The island is one kilometre in length, 200 metres wide at its broadest point, and has an area of 22 hectares. It has a population of approximately 1,200 people, an increase from around 700 in the early 1980s. Two hundred and fifty metres to the north is an international resort island.
The lagoon situated on the island’s western side and the open ocean to the east are characterised by strong tidal and current patterns, which shift with the changing monsoons. For this reason, the island’s beach systems are highly dynamic and move on a seasonal basis, gradually altering the shape and size of the island over the course of the year.
A drone video, viewing the island from south to north. Credit: Ibrahim Muizz
Fishing
Skipjack tuna fishing is an important source of household income on the island and is central to its economy and society. In the past, tuna fishing took place for a few days at a time on a riyalu dhoni, a sailboat, made from the wood of palm trees. Today, however, larger modern vessels mean that crews of eight or nine people can travel much further in the search for tuna over periods of many weeks. Many crews use FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices), which have been installed by the government to make fishing easier and more profitable.
A fishing boat positioned in the lagoon off the island’s western shoreline. Credit: Ibrahim Muizz
Tourism
The first international tourist to visit the island was ‘Captain Bruno’, an Italian, in 1979. Back then, Captain Bruno and those he was travelling with built their own guesthouse using timber frames, palm leaves and coconut husks.
Today, rapid and extensive construction of guesthouses, restaurants and cafés for tourists is taking place throughout the island as part of community plans to become a major tourist hub. As the tourist industry expands and incomes increase, new, larger and more modern homes and guesthouses are being built.
The variations in building materials of islanders’ homes provide evidence of the changing history of the use of resources, notably sand and coral. Older structures are largely made of coral mined from the reef. New buildings, however, are made of concrete, lime and clay, mixed with sand and water. This recent change in construction materials has led to an increase in the quantity of sand that is effectively being taken ‘out of circulation’. Through this process, sand becomes fixed in place, in the walls and floors of houses, potentially for many decades or until the house is demolished to make way for a newer construction or is left to be washed away by the encroaching sea. These developments on the island also require the upgrading and installation of new infrastructure, such as sewerage and water facilities. Such activities further contribute to the movement and stilling of sand on the island.
The changing island
The look and feel of the island has changed considerably in recent years, particularly because of guesthouse construction, housing and infrastructure projects. Additionally, with more tourists arriving on the island, its social and cultural environment has been transformed as islanders and Western tourists increasingly encounter one another.
Land reclamation, coastal defence and beach replenishment projects have had a particularly dramatic impact on the size and shape of the island since the 1980s. Today, the island is 40-50 percent larger than it was thirty years ago due to land reclamation and the Island Council believe that this figure will be closer to 80 percent by 2024. Almost every part of the island’s shoreline has been subject to human-caused modification in recent decades. The map below, which was annotated in 2018, records some of the main changes that have taken place.
A journey by boat around the island, showing the different types of coastline. Credit: research team
A sandscape walk
The harbour
Approaching the island from Male’, the boat passes through the lagoon and navigates the 500 metre channel cut into the reef to access the harbour. This channel regularly silts up with sand and so must be dredged on a regular basis.
The addition of the harbour to the island’s eastern side has been one of the most significant changes to the island’s shape and size in recent years. Originally built on top of the reef in 1995, the harbour was rebuilt following damage caused by the tsunami in 2004.
A series of satellite images of the island, showing how its shape has changed with the construction of the harbour. Credit: Tim Werner
Construction of the harbour began with the shifting of large quantities of sand off the reef to make way for the new structure and to allow the entry of deep-water boats. This was followed by the introduction of enormous amounts of externally sourced sand for concrete to create the extensive harbour walls.
At the harbour’s southern side, a small canal has been constructed that connects the harbour to the reef. However, large quantities of sand, washed southward by the prevailing currents, enter the harbour via this route. Consequently, the harbour and the connecting channel require constant dredging to keep them clear of sand so that larger vessels can enter.
The industrial area
To the east of the harbour is a large, rectangular area of reclaimed land. These four hectares were created through the large-scale pumping of sand from the sea. Once on the shoreline, the sand was stabilised and compacted, thus creating new land suitable for light industry and infrastructure.
A boatyard, now littered with discarded fishing boats and those in need of repair, was built on a section of this reclaimed land. The island’s central waste management facility was also constructed here. Before the land was reclaimed there was a small sandbank in this area of reef and residents reminisce about swimming there as children.
A drone video of the island’s industrial area and harbour. Credit: Ibrahim Muizz
Building a beach
Walking along the east coast of the island, away from the harbour, the full breadth of the ancient coral reef comes into view. At one time this section of the coastline was closed while the owners of the island’s main guesthouse worked to reconstruct a sandy tourist beach that had previously been eroded.
A sand pump used to replenish the beach sat on top of a wooden raft, positioned 30 metres into the reef. The powerful machine sucked up sand and seawater and forced it down a pipe, from which it sprayed onto the shoreline. Today, the beach is continually being replenished using sand dredged from the harbour, in effect ‘recycling’ this material.
A pump depositing seawater and sand onto a tourist beach on the island. Credit: research team
Reinforcing the shoreline
Further along this section of coastline is an area where large chunks of reinforced concrete and small bricks from local construction work have been discarded at the water’s edge. This makeshift form of coastal reinforcement, although considered unsightly, is relatively effective in holding back the erosive effects of the sea.
This south-eastern part of the island is the most verdant. It has not altered much over the past few decades, as shown in the two images below comparing the vaa (forest) in 1979 and 2020. However, it is likely that this area will be transformed in the next few years as it has been earmarked for future land reclamation for housing and infrastructure development.
'Sunset beach' and sandbank
Moving southwest along the sandy, tree-lined path, we encounter a part of the island that has been less affected by human activities. Unhindered by extensive human presence and intervention, crabs proliferate in this area. They manipulate sand by collecting it from below the surface and depositing it in small piles on the beach. Their activities are evident from their numerous burrows on the beach, from which they emerge to scavenge for food.
Hermit crabs moving across and manipulating sand on the island’s ‘sunset beach’. Credit: research team
Whereas to the north much of the coastal sand is ordered, settled, compacted and protected by seawalls and shoreline defences, here it is more exposed to ocean currents, wind and rain. During the southwest Hulhangu monsoon, which occurs from May to September each year, a strong southwest wind continually dislodges and blows sand across the vegetation.
Seagrass
In this area of shoreline there are extensive beds of seagrass growing in the shallow waters. Seagrass roots hold the seabed in place, helping to stabilise the shore and its leaves provide a habitat for small fish and other marine fauna.
A seagrass bed along the island’s southwestern shoreline. Credit: research team
Although ecologically important, seagrass is often removed by tourism managers keen to create the crystal-clear waters commonly expected by tourists. In this section of the isnaldn, the beach is infrequently used, and the seagrass has not been affected. However, the construction of a new ten-storey guesthouse in this area will result in many more tourists visiting this section of the island and the likely removal of seagrass beds.
The sandbank
Further offshore, there are currently five sandbanks, although the number varies at different times of the day and year depending on the tides and the accumulation and erosion of sand. These sandbanks often have a high content of small pieces of coral, which islanders collect. When this coarser sand dries it turns a brilliant white and is widely used to decorate homes, particularly during Ramadan, and can be sold for 15 Rufiyaa (approximately $1 USD) a sack.
The sandbanks provide views of the western and southern sides of the island. The two images below, the first taken in 1979 and the second in 2020, show the changes in vegetation cover and in the built environment that have occurred on the island in the past few decades.
The eroded area
Along the island’s southwestern edge, the beach narrows considerably. This is an area where rapid coastal erosion is taking place, as evidenced by the exposure of the tangled root systems of palm trees that once provided protection from the loss of sand. Here, the space between people’s homes and the sea has become compressed and people find themselves living ever closer to the shore. This is causing concern that homes will become destabilised and eventually collapse into the lagoon.
The causes of rapid beach erosion in this western area of the island are not easy to determine. Previously, erosion was attributed to sandmining from the island’s beaches, although that practice ended 30 years ago. These days, sandmining is being carried out offshore and further out to sea towards the centre of the atoll. Many islanders, however, have noticed more significant erosion following the building of the harbour and the reclamation of land on the north-eastern side of the island. This is because the sand, rather than flowing around the island, is now deflected by the harbour walls into the open ocean.
Three groynes made of sandbags and cement have also been built. These structures were erected by Bangladeshi migrant workers employed in other construction works around the island. In the Maldives, there are presently around 80,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers who undertake much of the ‘unskilled’, manual construction work in the country.
A groyne being built on the island’s western side. Credit: research team
The crumbled ruins of the island’s former jetty are evident in this section of coastline. This structure provided the main access point to and from the island before the harbour was built. The jetty is little used today although it continues to act as a groyne, slowing down the drifting of sand along this section of coastline.
The area immediately north of the jetty is reclaimed land that was created by the dumping of excess sand when the island’s harbour was constructed. Reclaimed land is valued by many people on the island as it creates more space for housing. In the following clip, one resident describes how this area has changed because of land reclamation.
Excerpt from an interview about land reclamation on the island. Accompanying drone video footage taken by Ibrahim Muizz.
Flooding
Despite these coastal defence measures, this western section of the island is regularly flooded during high tide. Most of these floods are relatively minor, causing little disruption to people’s lives. However, the floods can also be larger and more destructive. For example, in June 2020 during the Hulhangu monsoon, a large flood occurred, inundating homes and the local school. The Island Council posted a video of the flood onto social media to raise awareness in government and amongst the wider public of the problems caused by coastal erosion.
Flooding on the island’s western side in June 2020. Credit: Island Council
As a result of flooding and beach erosion, the Island Council has received approval from the Maldives Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a project that will install 20 new groynes and replenish the island’s beaches. Although the new groynes will provide enhanced coastal protection, they will significantly alter the look of the shoreline. In the following audio clip, a member of the Island Council explains how cooperation is needed from everyone on the island, particularly the guesthouse owners, to finance and implement the project.
Excerpt from an interview with the Island Council about their new coastal defence project. Accompanying images are taken from the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project.
The tourist beach
On the island’s northern tip is the tourist beach where international visitors congregate to sunbathe and swim. Cultural sensitivities require all inhabited islands to designate a separate area of the coastline as a ‘bikini beach’, which is positioned away from beaches used by local islanders. This area of shoreline is characterised by vodey fas, or ‘moveable earth’, as the fine sand here is constantly shifting with the prevailing currents and winds.
Twice a year, the nearby resort pumps sand from the lagoon between the island and resort to replenish its own southern beach.
This pumping, which can be seen and heard operating in the channel, removes sand, thus inhibiting the vodey fas process. As a result, the island's tourist beach is getting smaller each year. These changes can be seen in the pictures below, which show the same section of beach in 1979 and 2020. In the picture on the right, the tangled roots of the mangroves have been exposed above the level of the sand making them less effective at stabilising the beach.
Despite these problems, the tourist beach is regularly swept and cleared of any debris or waste that might wash up to maintain the ‘natural beauty’ of the white sands and turquoise waters expected by tourists on their tropical island destination. Guesthouse owners have also organised the removal of seagrass in this area so that tourists can experience pristine, clear waters. However, seagrass removal can lessen the stability of the seabed, accelerating nearby coastal erosion.
Returning to the harbour
The ferryboat from Male’ arrives daily and people wait to greet family and friends or to see them off. Supply boats drop off their wares and the crews of tuna fishing vessels unload their catch. The harbour is an important place for socialising and recreation, whether gathering at the harbour café to drink coffee and play cards, participating in sports such as football and volleyball, or to exercise and go for walks. People spend time sitting on rows of jolies, hammock seats made from steel frames and fishing nets, resting, chatting and watching the goings-on in and around the harbour.
Conclusion: Shifting sands on a Maldivian island
Moving through the island sandscape, the presence and effects of this remarkable and diverse material are evident everywhere. On the island, the movement, accumulation and stillness of sand are inextricably and deeply connected.
About the Everyday Lives and Environmental Change project
This story map is based on the Everyday Lives and Environmental Change in Island Communities project. It was produced by Alex Arnall, Uma Kothari, Anaa Hassan and Emma Kelly.
We are grateful for the images provided by Fathimath Nashma, Ibrahim Muizz, Aminath Ashira, Ahmed Shimal, Hassan Shamleen and the Island Council. The remaining images were taken by Alex Arnall, Uma Kothari and Anna Hassan. The UAV map of the island was made by Water Solutions.
The project is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).