From roads to buildings, sand shapes our cities. But India’s rivers and coastlines are being stripped faster than they can recover. Meet Sumaira Abdulali, the woman who has worked for over 20 years to protect them.
Sand is the second most extracted resource on Earth after water. But it’s not the desert sand you imagine. Construction needs the coarse sand from our rivers and beaches. And our demand is outpacing nature.
Sumaira grew up spending every holiday on Kihim beach and learned to move in harmony with nature. Her family, including her father-in-law, a biologist, and her uncle, an environmentalist, inspired her love for the environment.
One day, she saw trucks carrying her beach away. When she asked her community for help, many dismissed it. “There’s plenty of sand. Why worry?”
Determined, she confronted illegal miners. She faced violence and hospitalisation — her hand paralysed, her teeth broken. Yet she persisted, realising the stakes were higher than herself.
She documented every illegal operation, filed a PIL, and won India’s first court order against sand mining. Even when miners threatened her life, she continued.
Twenty years later, Sumaira’s work shaped national policy and drew global attention, with the UN recognising sand mining as an environmental concern.
Why it matters: Sand is finite, but our demand is not. Floods, eroding coastlines, and polluted rivers are signs of what happens when natural limits are ignored.
If one person can influence governments and global policy, imagine what millions could do. Sumaira listened and acted. Will we?