Popular protests were  rare in The Gambia, a popular tourist destination that welcomes tens of thousands of foreign visitors every year. The country of 1.8 million, which is surrounded on its three other sides by Senegal, saw Yahya Jammeh rise to power through a military coup in 1994. In 2015-16 there was much unrest including demonstrations against sand mining for metals. The sand mining in Kartung, Batukunku and Sanyang have been the subject of a great corruption scandal involving the former government under Yahya Jammeh´s presidency (deemed as a dictator as he stayed 22 years in power). Investigations show that the permit granted to Carnegie S.A. (in partnership with Astron Limited) was revoked in 2008 in order to benefit Gambian companies´ ventures in relationship or under direct ownership of Yahya Jammeh himself. The mining sites are considered illegal after the departure of Carnegie (see Project details). In the mid-1990s The Gambia decided to not allow sand mining in order to protect its coasts. Yet Carnegie S.A. explored The Gambian coasts and started commercially exploiting the three sand mineral deposits in June 2003, even though “Gambia government’s own geology department in collaboration with the National Environment Agency in a joint impact assessment survey of coastal sand mining identified the practice as one of the biggest threat to the country’s environment.” (1) By the end of 2015, the villagers of Kartung demonstrated asking for the closing down of the illegal mines surrounding their village and they were violently repressed. At least 45 people were arrested and sued, amongst them young people and women (2). By early 2016, Kartung mining site was closed by the National Environment Agency. Yet APAM, operating there, transferred its operation to another deposit, to Sambouya (also in the Kombo South district) (3). Gamico is also involved in the exploitation of Sanbouya mine. By February 2017, miners were still working on Sanyang site (4). The companies came and left one after the other without restoring the sites. They should have replaced the mined sand but instead they left the ditches open. All the involved companies have so violated the National Environmental Management Act which requires to the companies to restore damaged areas. Flooded, the ditches attract the mosquitoes all year-round. The presence of crocodiles has also increased, putting at risk the women cultivating their vegetables´ gardens (5). The Inquiry Commission (set up by the new government in order to investigate the financial issues of the former government of the President Yahya Jammeh) visited the devastated sites in October 2017.  The communities took the opportunity to share with the commission members their concerns for the environment which has not been rehabilitated. The mining operations have triggered the soil erosion, worsen by the sea-level rise and overall, the agricultural activities have been undermined.