An Assessment Of Environmental Impacts Of Stone Quarryng Activities In Nyambera Location Kisii County

ABSTRACT

Kenya is a growing economy and it is in the list of third world countries what is commonly referred to as developing countries. As a result of this its poor-rich gap keeps on growing as a result of the high stone quarrying and its impacts on the environment by able investors and as research indicates 4 out of every 5 Kenyans live in rural areas and this may clearly imply that most of the rural folk live in high poverty levels. To sought out this problem of high poverty levels research has clearly shown that making improvements in the quarrying of minerals such as stones has contribute significantly to achieving global development priorities, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and hunger reduced by 2015. A significant body of research shows that development of a viable stone quarrying sector is vital for both economic growth and poverty reduction (World Bank, 2004; DFID, 2004a). Rural stone quarrying is thus one of the key items in the achievement of development in most counties in Kenya in this case Nyambera in Kisii County because of the fact that rural areas carry a large percentage of the Kenyan population. Most people engage stone quarrying because of low finance involved in the activity. Initially financial service providers assumed that it was not viable to invest in stone quarrying areas this is because of constraints such as the weakness of rural finance markets as well as their dependence on agriculture to earn a living this is according to various scholars such as (Zeller and Sharma, 1998; Buchenau, 2003) who believe that positive effect of rural finance on growth, poverty and livelihoods is limited by the weakness of rural financial markets. Stone quarrying has also been hindered by physical access that is the distance between the consumers and the service providers among other constraints. However, with time the constraints have been overcome with the pursuit of the millennium development goals. Many developing countries Kenya inclusive have aligned themselves towards alleviating over-exploitation of minerals like stone quarrying. Through the help of the Kenyan government there was a creation of the agent quarrying legislation that has changed the picture of rural stone quarrying dramatically. It has enabled community in nyambera to create a wide network of agents who carry out various services such as stone agents, brokers and so many other services addressing the problem of physical access on stone quarrying. The commercial stone quarrying industry also has not been left behind in making this goal a reality. It will use all the necessary data collection techniques such as questionnaires, interview and observations as well as the descriptive research design to make this research a success. The tools used for the study will be tested including the questionnaires and the interview schedule for purposes of ascertaining whether it is fit for the fieldwork. The research will be carried out in Nyambera in Kisii County to ascertain the effect of stone quarrying in the environment.