Sand, gravel, and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Conflicts, synergies, and pathways forward

Sand, gravel, and crushed stone are the most mined materials on Earth. Aggregates constitute foundation for modern civilization essential providing shelter, infrastructure, communication, but an increasingly scarce resource. Here, we review interconnections between impacts of aggregate mining services they provide. We show that conflicting environment humankind disrupt net positive effects sustainable development. Focusing low- middle-income countries, link these to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals identify critical obstacles a future global resources. Our assessment identifies urgent need improve knowledge on: (1) direct indirect extraction human health, (2) system-level ecosystems provide, (3) how meet projected trajectories demand.