Drivers and effects of construction-sand mining in Sub-Saharan Africa

•We reviewed 93 journal articles on sand mining in Sub-Saharan Africa.•91 % of literature being published within the most recent 5 years.•People mine sand due to low education, unemployment and livelihood disruption.•Extraction destructs infrastructure and causes pollution (water, air, noise).•Positive effects stem from job creation, critical buildings, income and taxes. Construction-sand is the most used solid material on Earth and is central in developing societies and economies. Recent years’ increasing focus on scarcity of sand has focused on global issues arising from it and on environmental consequences of extraction. However, comprehensive research describing the complexity of sand mining in developing nations is lacking. Here, we review literature from Sub-Saharan Africa outlining drivers and effects of construction-sand. We show at regional and national level, population growth and rapid urbanisation are main drivers for the growing sand mining activities observed in all investigated countries. Environmental consequences are solely negative and often observed at or in the vicinity of the mining sites and can be immediate or occur later. For humans and the built environment, the positive effects are seen at a variety of levels spanning national and regional through the creation of necessary buildings, income, taxes, and revenues. At an individual level, little or low education, unemployment and disruption of traditional livelihoods are main drivers for people engaging in sand mining by offering an income. Extraction of the material has negative consequences in the form of pollution and destruction of infrastructure and impact not only people involved in the mining industry but also nearby communities. [Display omitted]