Abstract:
Quarrying is an excavation process involving extracting materials, which are neither fuel
nor minerals in nature from rocks. The increased quarrying activities have led to
detrimental environmental and social economic impacts which are usually ignored at the
expense of economic pursuit by developers. The main goal that guided the study was to
assess land cover change and socio-economic impacts of stone quarrying in Narok Town
Ward. The specific objectives were; assessment of land cover changes, identification of
socio-economic impacts of stone quarrying and assessment of the existing measures taken
to mitigate the impacts. The study employed mixed method research design. Stratified
sampling and random sampling techniques were used in the study. Collection of secondary
data involved desktop review of both published and unpublished literature relevant to the
study. Spatial analysis of land cover changes was conducted by processing and analysis of
remote sensed images from Landsat and Sentinel 2 satellite data. Supervised classification
was performed on the images into vegetation and non-vegetation cover classes using
environmental visualization software, version 5.3. Findings were presented descriptively
in tables, charts, graphs and textual forms. The study found that non-vegetation cover class
had increased by 18.70% between the year 1985 and 1995.There was an increase in
vegetation cover class between the year 1995and 2010 by 37.81 %. Between the year 2010
and 2022 vegetation cover reduced by 18.24 %. More than half (57.65%) of house hold
heads noted that the previously vegetated landscape was now scarred and exposed.
Moderate correlation was found between landscape degradation and vegetation
loss(R2=0.384). Land use changes were reported with crop farming 41.18%, grazing
48.24% had been replaced by quarrying activities in the study area. Most of the quarry
workers (56.7%) were not using PPEs during their daily quarry operation. Social issues
reported include change of social behaviors, conflicts, influx of new people into the area,
relocation among the residents, destruction of cultural sites and health issues. The
respondent (51.2%) indicated absence of mitigation measures put in place to alleviate
negative impacts of quarrying activities. The study concluded that quarrying activities has
led to landcover changes, negative social impacts and inadequate mitigation measures
taken to alleviate negative impacts of quarrying activities in the study area. The study
recommended that County government, National government and other stakeholders to put
in place plans to rehabilitate and restore already degraded landscape. Strict authorization
and effective regulations of quarrying activities by agencies, in order to minimize negative
environmental and social impacts of quarrying activities.
