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Singapore, one of the world's most prosperous and fastest growing economies, is being accused of expanding its coastline with illegally dredged sand from neighboring states.
Singapore has been importing sand for years and its territory has increased by over 20% in the last half century, but sand imports are now threatening the regional ecosystem and harming its economy.
A report by an independent American watchdog, strongly rejected by the government of Singapore, says the trade causes huge environmental damage in Cambodia, feeding corruption while causing misery to ordinary people.
The government of Singapore, however, has firmly rebutted the Global Witness report, denying it condones sand smuggling or extraction, which breaches source countries' laws on environmental protection. The state says that sand suppliers are private firms buying from other countries who are responsible for policing their own environmental laws.