Assessing challenges facing districts towards effective environmental management of quarrying operations: a case study of Bagamoyo district, Coastal region, Tanzania.

This study assesses the challenges facing Districts towards effective environmental management of quarrying operation using a case study of Bagamoyo District in Coastal Region, Tanzania. It also examines environmental effects of quarrying operations and community awareness on environmental problems due to quarrying operations. The problem that this study has addressed is weakness in some organisations responsible for environmental management and lack of awareness to communities living close to the quarrying operations. In this research the data were collected through study techniques including remote sensing, questionnaires, field observation and key informants interviews.The study found that poor law enforcement, lack of environmental education awareness, and lack of well trained staff for proper environmental management, poor coordination and cooperation among sectors and inadequate funds are major challenges that were encountered. These challenges accelerated the ineffectiveness of environmental management in the District. The findings further s show that noise, vibration, dust deposition, land degradation and loss of vegetation were among the major environmental impacts caused by quarrying operations. The study revealed that 40% of the communities living close to the quarrying operations are not aware of environmental effects caused by quarrying operations.The study found that challenges facing the District have accelerated the impacts of quarrying operations and certainly making environmental management at Bagamoyo District more difficult to deal with. The study concludes that Bagamoyo District must take necessary measures to combat the existing challenges in order to enable secure its effectiveness in environmental management as recommended.The study recommends that communities living near quarry sites must be educated about the environmental impacts resulting from quarry activities. Staff in environmental department should have enough knowledge on quarry environmental management and Districts, Councils and Village level should have effective approaches to enforce the environmental management laws and enhance cooperation and coordination among governmental sectors and stakeholders.