Environmental Impact of Stone Quarrying: Deforestation and Beyond

 

Quarrying site                                                                          credit: Erasmus Oppong

Author: Erasmus Oppong Tetteh


Trees, mankind’s major source of oxygen, suffer due to some irresponsible activities that individuals engage in. Over the years, the rampant growth in the human population has created more harm than good to the environment. In the quest to build more lavish and so-called “modern” homes, we tend to deplete our soils, cut down trees without replacing them, and pollute our precious waters.

A journey to a stone quarrying site in Ghana explains the harm we are likely to face in a few years. The people of Katapor, a town in Kwabenya, are the resident human resources that work at this stone quarrying site. Some, who have lived there for over the past 50 years, shared their experiences.

They have been practicing these activities as a means to make a living for themselves and their immediate families. They explained that they are well informed about the harm the activities are causing. Miss Anku, an elderly woman in the community, explained that she had worked at the quarrying site since age 24 and used that work to cater for herself and her children’s health and education. She also mentioned that most residents in the community are not owners of the quarrying site, but they have been employed by the actual owners to quarry the site and make space to build their houses.

By quarrying, trees are cut down and there are no avenues to replace them. This has caused a decrease in rainfall patterns in the community since the mountains play a major role in rainfall. The increased rate of quarrying and cutting down trees is causing severe harm to the community, and residents who engage in the activity express discomfort about it.




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