As Ice Melts, Greenland Could Become a Potential Sand Exporter: Study thewire.in

Greenland could start to export sand in a rare positive spinoff from global warming that is melting the island’s vast ice sheet and washing large amounts of sediment into the sea, scientists said on Monday. Mining of sand and gravel, widely used in the construction industry, could boost the economy for Greenland’s 56,000 population who have wide powers of self-rule within Denmark but rely heavily on subsidies from Copenhagen. By mining sand, “Greenland could benefit from the challenges brought by climate change,” a team of scientists in Denmark and the United States wrote in the journal Nature Sustainability. The study headlined ‘Promises and perils of sand exploitation in Greenland’, said that the Arctic island would have to assess risks of coastal mining, especially to fisheries.