***The sandy beaches of the Eastern Caribbean have always been regarded as a free and limitless resource. Not any more. Governments, reports Gemini News Service. are realising that sand-mining is a major cause of erosion.***

CARIBBEAN beaches still deliver the sun and s^a promised in the tourist brochures, but they can no longer always boast of endless sand.

Beaches are being eroded by natural processes and human activities. The phenomenon has been ignored by governments — falsely confi* dent of a resource that would never run out — but now severe damage has occurred, politically unpopular decisions are required and huge costs look likely.

A decade ago. Telescope Point on Grenada's east coast was a beautiful beach. It has been virtually destroyed. Heavy sand mihing/ indiscriminate removal of mangroves, strong northeast trade winds and a Jetty expansion which damaged the reef have done the job. What remains Is uprooted coconut trees, mud and a narrow strip of sand.

Monitoring shows that the lieach Is eroding by between three and four metres a year.

Destruction of the beach has disrupted the habitat of snails, crabs and other creatures. which scientists warn will have a long-term effect on the marine food chain. Telescope was ' once a nesting ground for leatherback turtles. The largest of the turtle family and now an endangered species, leatherbacks used to return to the point of their birth to nest in the sand. They no longer do so. '

About 85 per cent of sand for use in Grenada's construction industry is taken from the island's beaches. There is no monitoring, and regulations controlling which beaches are open for mining are often ignored by residents and government.

Concrete is preferred to wood all over the region, because of its resistance to weather and termites. Traditionally. private citizens have regarded beach sand as freely available lor house construction, but in terms of quantity governments have often been the biggest culprits In removing sand for public works projects and filtration systems

Counter-measures are not always appropriate. Valerie Isaac of the natural resources management unit of the Organ Isatton of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) recalls a work shop in St. Vincent at which the government's director of planning Indicated all beat lies

would be closed to sand mining. The result, she says, "was a rush on the beaches — people were stockpiling like crazy."

St. Vincent has now constructed facilities to handle imported sand from Guyana. Dominica and other places. Local sand it is taken from a river and also made from pumice, a light volcanic rock.

Such attempts to tackle the problem are part of a response to recommendations by COS-ALC — Coast and Beach Stability In the Lesser Antilles — working with the OECS.

COSALC was founded by the UN Educational. Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1985 after erosion in the eastern Caribbean had become visibly more serious.

It has drawn up recommendations for coastal zone

regulation, which • several countries have found helpful. The British Virgin Islands used the regulations to introduce mangrove management, as the extensive mangrove root system play an Important part in marine life and in the sustainability of beaches and rivers.

Most sand in the British Virgins is obtained from offshore dredging. Some countries haye been slower in finding alternatives. The OECS estimates that regionally 16 per cent of sand consumed is imported. and 20 per cent is taken from local beaches. Restricting removal of beach sand Is unpopular because alternatives such as crushed stone from quarries cost money. But in 1992 Montserrat introduced stringent regulations, closing all beaches to sand mining.

Beaches are continually

monitored, apd barriers control vehicle access. Construction with quarry sand required remedial work on some new buildings, but the government Jias kept all but one beach closed to sand mining, and gives training one efficient ways of using quarry sand and avoiding siltation.

In St Lucia, sand for government projects is Imported from Trinidad and even from Canada. Sand dredged from offshore Is used, and river mouths are open at certain times of the year to local villagers. Pumice is extracted frdm private mines and crushed.

Beach mining is not the only culprit. Other human causes of erosion Include construction of port facilities that interfere with the movement of water and pollution. Tropical storms and the endless pounding of waves have brought about significant longterm changes to the coastlines of the Lesser Antilles islands.

Sea defences are costly and can create new forms of erosion.

Eastern Caribbean governments are gradually realising that halting erosion and rebuilding beaches are complicated and costly challenges.