| dc.description.abstract | Mining or quarrying of stone and metals has been done since pre historic times and has been / is vital for development of any society, however, continuous extraction of the raw material has massive impacts on the environment. Land rehabilitation and restoration is a strategy to mitigate or minimize such negative impacts on environment, however, this best rehabilitation practices is still minimal or lacking especially in developing countries. The key purpose of the study discussed the factors influencing sustainable rehabilitation and restoration of quarried land in context of sustainable development.
An overview of the literature review was based on the stated independent variables: Conservation of Habitats and Biodiversity; Policies on Rehabilitation of Quarried Land; Corporate Social Responsibility; and Heightened awareness on Environmental Issues, however, little has been done on factors that influence sustainable rehabilitation and restoration of these quarries. The study did so by combining theoretical arguments with an empirical example based on soft revegetation approach to quarry rehabilitation, the Lafarge Ecosystem programmes, in Mombasa, Kenya. Survey research design was employed by the study and disproportionate technique as part of stratified random sampling used to arrive at the sample size.
The study targeted majorly the employees of Lafarge Eco System-Bamburi Cement, KWS, KFS, Visitors to Haller Park and Bamburi Forest Trails, and the Community around the quarrying facility. To ensure validity and reliability of the research instruments, the researcher carried out a pilot study targeting I % of the sampled subject cases, of whom were excluded from the main study. The techniques applied to Gather information were administration of questionnaires to disproportionately sampled respondents and personal interviews to purposively sampled informants. Data analysis technique used was calculation of frequencies, mode, average, and percentages and then presented in tabular form in order to measure the magnitude and direction of relationship between variables.
The findings established positive correlation between factors influencing sustainable rehabilitation and restoration of Quarried land. It established that habitat and biodiversity conservation was of prime importance to the company; internal procedures govern the smooth running of the best rehabilitation practices, moreover, it adheres to external policies on mitigation or minimization of negative impacts of quarrying on the environment; Regard to sustainability of the local livelihoods and their economies are continuously taken into consideration; and success of all quarried land rehabilitation strategies depend on sound understanding of environmental issues.
The recommendations to the study indicated that; natural habitat and biodiversity loss due to unstructured mining activities could be mitigated by adherence to regulatory requirements and punitive measures to be meted on those who seem to overlook the . requirement. Preparation and adherence to a framework on sustainability of local livelihoods and their economies before commencement permission is granted to mining industry. And finally, sustainable success on rehabilitation depends so much on scientific understanding of the fundamental processes of how ecosystems function and how they are affected by quarrying activities. The study revealed some fascinating insights into the successful rehabilitation of the two projects- Haller Park and Bamburi Forest Trails. | en_US |
