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The beach, however, is anything but clean, environmentalists say.

“It’s an illusion,” said Lia Mai Torres, executive director of the Philippine Center for Environmental Concerns. “Just because it’s white doesn’t mean it’s clean.”

The white sand is actually crushed dolomite from a mine in Cebu, in the central Philippines.

The use of sand made from dolomitic rock in such a project is very rare, experts say. The vast majority of sandy beaches around the world are made up of quartz and feldspar, while dolomite sand is commonly used in road construction.

“I have never come across any beach food with dolomite sand,” said Arnaud Vander Velpen, who is the monitoring and innovation leader in the UNEP / GRID-Geneva Department of Sand Monitoring and Governance.

Sand makeup is crucial for ecosystems

While UNEP / GRID-Geneva generally supports the search for alternative sources of sand so as not to alter ecosystems in rivers and oceans by extracting them, Vander Velpen emphasized that it was vital to use sand that closely resembles the composition of native sand to protect the beach fauna.

“If you change the core characteristics of the native sand, the original sand, you need to do an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to find out how it will affect the ecosystem and nearby ecosystems,” he told DW.

But according to Torres, that evaluation was not made in Manila.

Beautification trick instead of proper cleaning?

The waters of Manila Bay are heavily polluted by oil and garbage from nearby residential areas and ports. A huge “No Swimming” sign warns visitors to stay away from the ocean.

The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has denied that dolomite sand poses any risk to human health and the ecosystem.

However, scientists from the University of the Philippines have come out in disagreement with DENR’s claims. A statement from the Institute of Biology said that the use of crushed dolomite did not address any of the rehabilitation phases and, instead, was “even more detrimental to the existing biodiversity as well as to the communities in the area”, pointing to the case of the acuatic birds. “The dolomite spill in Manila Bay has effectively covered part of the intertidal area used by birds, thus reducing their habitat.”

In peak migration season, Manila Bay is home to 90 species of waterfowl, including species of international conservation concern that face a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Authorities should focus on protecting and conserving biodiversity, added the Institute of Biology. “Mangrove rehabilitation is an example of a nature-based solution that is cheaper and more profitable than the dolomite dump project,” the scientists said.

In addition, the Institute of Marine Sciences warned that prolonged inhalation of finer dolomite dust particles could “cause chronic health effects,” leading to chest discomfort, shortness of breath and coughing.

They also warned that dolomite sand grains would erode during storms and wash out to sea, essentially being washed away.

Rehabilitation versus recovery

Environmentalists say that covering the beach does not address the real problems of the bay. Torres and others believe that the best way to clean Manila Bay is not to add anything, but to remove trash and pollution.

“There have been studies that say that much of the waste comes from already collected waste, so these are open dumps along the coast that are washed away by rain,” Torres said.

She criticized the authorities for continuing to promote recovery projects that, according to her, are at odds with each other. These projects will affect large areas of mangroves, he said, and experts warn that this, in turn, exacerbates coastal erosion.

“If you have removed the areas that helped to trap the sand, such as mangrove forests, then you increase the likelihood that you will have to nurture a beach. Just like building up to the boardwalk,” said Vander Velpen from UNEP / GRID-Geneva.

A lot of sand in the sea?

The issue of the controversial white beach in Manila echoes more important questions about sand mining around the world. Global sand consumption has tripled in the past two decades, UNEP / GRID-Geneva has found. A large part is now occupied by construction.

“Many operate on the assumption that natural sand is infinite in supply,” said Vander Velpen.

Sand scarcity is a concern shared by Stefan Schimmels of Forschungszentrum Küste, who has done extensive research on coastal nutrition to stop coastal erosion. And as climate change and rising sea levels threaten coasts, the demand for sand will grow even more.

A large study, Strategies and Tools for Environmentally Friendly Coastal Nutrition as Low-Regret Measures for the Impact of Climate Change (STENCIL project), focused on the German island of Sylt, a popular vacation spot.

About 1 million cubic meters of sand per year is used to maintain the coastal area of ​​Sylt, said Schimmels, director of the STENCIL project. That’s about 100 million 10-liter buckets of sand.

When sand was extracted from the coast of Sylt, underwater craters formed. “You can still detect these craters even decades later,” Schimmels told DW.

“Also when you add a couple of meters of sand to the beach, you essentially bury all the crawling and flying things,” he said. “How fast will they recover?” Schimmels said more research is needed as very little is yet known about the long-term effects on the environment.

Criticism accumulates

As for the man-made white sands of Manila, it seems that a recent storm has already washed away some. DENR claims it was not washed away, but said grayish sand, stones and other materials had simply accumulated on the dolomite sand. People in Manila have tweeted photos showing how the storm has devastated the beach.

Authorities have been called deaf for spending around 389 million pesos ($ 8 million) on a beach nutrition project amid a devastating pandemic.

An image of a cake with the words “It really hurts, that is [worth] 389 million pesos? “It has gone viral ever since.

“It is simply a waste of precious resources,” Torres said.

The environmental activist is now also concerned that she could be labeled a terrorist for speaking out under the Philippines’ controversial new anti-terrorism law. She says she could be arrested for inciting fear when talking about environmental hazards.

Published with permission of German wave.