ASSESSMENT OF LAND COVER CHANGE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF STONE QUARRYING ACTIVITIES IN NAROK TOWN WARD

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 Collection of secondary data involved desktop review of both published and unpublished literature relevant to the study.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 Land use changes were reported with crop farming 41.18%, grazing 48.24% had been replaced by quarrying activities in the study area.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.