Below are some questions to guide your thoughts on the psychological perspective of exporting nations.

Have you ever thought why sand exporting nations exploit sand resources?

One of the most common theories that psychologists has brought up is the the tragedies of the common. 

Before we start exploring the concept of the Tragedies of the Common (TOC), why not play this game understand TOC in a fun way? Play this game here   After playing the Bunny Game, can you mentally describe what are some of the differences between poaching rabbits from a public space and do it from a privately designated space? Why do you think TOC tend to exist in public spaces? Keep your thoughts to yourself and we shall explore it shortly!

Sandy beaches and seabeds are still commonly reported on the media
Cr: pexels.com

When the resources is easily accessed without much restriction, individuals tend to take full advantage of the resources to maximise their own personal interest. As the quantity of the resource is perceived to be in abundance, individuals do not see much harm in behaving in the aforementioned manner. The individual may think about reducing its consumption but will immediately realise that he/she will be put at a disadvantage because others will just consume their portion.

TOC & The Sand Industry

Although there are reports in these countries, documenting the effects of sand exploitation/mining (such as reduced biodiversity of fishes and its population, landslides and collapse of riverbanks), illegal or legal sand mining still persist. Why? Most of the countries in ASEAN see themselves as a "small" developing country and they require money to grow their economies. They understand that if their country/company does not mine the sand, other countries/company will do it anyway.  

The media coverage is another powerful tools that is able to increase the inclination of one towards TOC. Numerous beautiful and white sandy remains in this ASEAN Region and this would make people perceive that sand is plentiful and seabed mining of sand has not cause much damage. However, no one really know if such beaches go through beach nourishment, which does not paint the actual situation at the beach front.
These are the names of the following beaches in ASEAN (non-exhaustive):

  • Palawan, Phillippines
  • Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
  • Boracay, Phillippines
  • Sipadan, Malaysia
  • Koh Rong, Cambodia
  • Mui Ne, Vietnam
  • Phuc Quoc Island, Vietnam
  • Sentosa, Singapore
  • Derawan, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia



Due to the frequency of the media coverage, the idea of white, sandy pristine beaches is frequently encoded one's memory. This information will become more available in one's information network. Available heuristic, the mental shortcut or rule of thumb that people frequently use to evaluate event probabilities by relying on easily the information is retrieved. In this case, availability heuristic leads individuals to underestimate the severity of the issue as the images of beautiful beaches are easily accessible in their mind.

Neural Network
Cr: pixelbay.com

Cambodia , Vietnam, Indonesia has announced bans on sale of sand to Singapore previously. Due to the environmental degredation in the local communities, the government are aware of the benefits of halting sand mining and export.  However, except Cambodia which has permanently banned the sale of sand to Singapore, the other countries have lifted their ban. Keep in mind that although Cambodia may have banned the sale of sand to Singapore, they may sell sand to other nations and illegal sand mining may continue to exist.

  Cr: tumblr.com

Cr: Tug of war (Sgomag,2016)

Countries who export sand in the ASEAN Region usually have a lower Gross Domestic Product per capita than other developed nations.  Sand export provides a large and quick injection of money into the economic system compared to erecting factories, retail and services spaces which requires higher investment quantum and subjected to market uncertainty. Between protecting the environment and mining the sand actually creates tensions in people. In psychology, this tension experienced by an individual with two opposing view is known as cognitive dissonance.  According to a Straits Times Article,  "It was not clear why there was such a big difference between the official [Cambodian] government figure for [sand] exports to Singapore since 2007 and the U.N. figure.". The author believes that  this reflects government facing cognitive dissonance between protecting the environment and mining the sand for export.

 
To resolve this cognitive dissonance, the government can alter its thinking by rationalising that they could export sand to get more economic advancement for the country and the people first. This pattern of thinking is linked to Temporal Discounting which focuses on increasing survival benefits facing immediate problems. With more money in their hands, they are able to fulfil their basic needs  first and they will be able to invest in solutions to alleviate the negative consequences of the economy. Based on this perspectives, it seems that this plan is the best compromise to the cognitive dissonance and tragedy of commons faced by the government.