Many of us have fond childhood memories of visits to the beach and pleasant times spent there whether sunbathing, walking, fishing, surfing, or simply enjoying the atmosphere. But beaches have even more to offer: They sustain life.

Most of the ecosystem is invisible to us, since it is within the sand, but we can readily appreciate the birds, turtles, and seals, as well as the commercial fisheries (clams, mackerel) that depend on healthy beaches.

Above all, however, beaches are remarkable natural defenses against the power of the sea. While seawalls crumble and cliffs collapse, beaches absorb the power of the waves by changing their shape.

Why, then, if beaches are such wonderful attractions, ecosystems, and sea defenses, are they in trouble?

We have impacted beaches worldwide, degrading them with pollution, oil, and litter, by driving on them, and by physically destroying them. Many beaches have been completely obliterated, and there are entire stretches of coast where not a single natural beach survives.

Instead, poor imitations of the real thing artificial or replenished beaches line the coasts of southern Europe, the eastern United States, and the Persian Gulf, to name but a few. Most beaches on Spains famous costas are human constructions long, thin engineering projects that provide a recreational area, but otherwise bear no more resemblance to a natural beach than a city park bears to an indigenous forest.

Most beaches are being destroyed by our efforts to hold them in place and protect beachfront property. Flexibility is the key to a beachs survival. When we limit beaches by building seawalls, groins, and breakwaters to hold them in place, we remove their ability to adjust, and thus fatally weaken them rather like tying a boxers hands behind his back and expecting him to survive the full 12 rounds.

Sand is the lifeblood of beaches. Taking the sand from a beach is a sure way to destroy it. Yet, beach sand mining is widespread. Sand is a valuable commodity, equaled only by water in the scale of human demand for a natural resource.

Beach sand is often seen as a free and easily exploited resource, so, in many parts of the world, beach sand is big business. Ironically, sand is mined from some beaches simply to replenish eroded beaches elsewhere.

The value of beach sand is well illustrated by the theft of an entire beach (500 truckloads) in Jamaica in 2008 that was never recovered, despite a police investigation.

More here:

Bringing Sand to the Beach