ABSTRACT This research focused on the Impact of Economic Activities on Natural Vegetation Cover conducted in Lolkisale Forest in Monduli District in Arusha northern part of Tanzania. The objectives of the study were to identify the major socio-economic activities in the sub village of Lolkisale village around Lolkisale forest, to determine causes of natural vegetation degradation, identify the impact of economic activities and to identify the measures that have been put in place to remedy def...
ABSTRACT Agriculture remains the mainstay of the African economy as an engine of economic growth and development where 88% of the continent’s populations living in rural areas earn their livelihood from agriculture (Ndambi 2008). Also 80% of Uganda’s cultivated land area falls under subsistence form of agriculture (Kalyebara 2005). It is this phenomenon that prompted a research study whose intention was to investigate the implications of subsistence farming in the natural environment, the...
ABSTRACT Biogas can be produced from biological waste materials which include waste from humans. Human waste can be transformed to eco-friendly and sustainable fuels that can help to reduce deforestation and methane emissions through anaerobic digestion process. This study investigated the factors that influence adoption of human waste biogas technology among households in the rural areas of Kiganjo division, Kiambu County. The objectives of the study were: to assess the level of awareness o...
ABSTRACT Deficits in soil moisture and low soil fertility are major constraints to smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers in Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya, have over the decades suffered huge declines in crop yields as a result of continuous cultivation with inadequate replenishments of the lost soil nutrients and lack of appropriate soil water conservation technologies. Experiments were set up at Kigogo primary school, Mukuuni location in Tharaka-Nithi County to determine ...
ABSTRACT More than three decades after the introduction of prosopis species in the drylands of Kenya there is now increasing concern about the negative impacts of the plant on the livelihoods of dryland communities and on the ecological integrity of the fragile arid and semiarid lands. The extent of the species coverage in the arid and semiarid lands has, however, not been fully mapped owing in part to the recent nature of the problem. As such the aim of this study was to map out the extent ...
ABSTRACT EIA is a critical examination of the potential effects of any proposed project on the environment with the aim of mitigating them. It has been noted that the role of EIA which ultimately is to achieve sustainable development, has not been played as expected. This research aims at finding out the extent to which developers in the plastics industry are familiar with EIA and its role in promoting sustainable development, the problems encountered as the process is carried out and implem...
ABSTRACT The study on man’s socio-economic activities on protected areas was carried out on Mount Elgon national park and was specifically aimed at identifying communities and their socio-economic activities, the impacts of these activities on the park and the sustainable park management approaches. The study used simple random sampling for the community members and purposive for the knowledgeable about park management, methods of data collection were questionnaire, interview, observation a...
ABSTRACT The recovery of items from waste for reuse and recycling of waste represents an important strategy for waste minimization. The objectives of this study was to determine the type and amount of inorganic solid waste recycled, stages involved in collection, separation, reuse and recycling of ISW, institutional arrangement and policies in place for ISW reuse and recycling and opportunities and challenges encountered in ISW reuse and recycling. Sampling methods used to select the study u...
ABSTRACT Information on impacts of subdivision of ranches on land cover is important as it forms vital baseline among others for the detection of impacts of degradation of rangeland and economic resources in the area. This study was conducted between May and November, 2012. The broad objective for the study was to assess the impacts of subdivision of ranches and subsequent land use change on land cover and rangeland resources in the study area. The research employed various data collection m...
ABSTRACT Lake Naivasha located at latitude 0 0 45’ S, and longitude 360 20’ E, was designated a Ramsar site in 1995. It is an important resource to many stakeholders and has a fragile ecosystem that experiences rapid changes associated with natural and anthropogenic factors such as huge water abstraction for irrigation agriculture, fertilizer residues runoffs from the agro-based farms and sediments discharged by River Malewa among others. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the leve...
ABSTRACT A shallow well is a hole dug, bored or drilled less than 50M deep to extract water. Contamination of shallow wells with fecal matter presents a grave public health threat in developing countries, such as Kenya, where large numbers of households lack access to clean and safe water supplies and rely on untreated surface water sources or shallow unprotected groundwater for domestic utilization. A report by WHO shows that 1 billion people practice open defecation with nine out of ten of ...
The increase in human population has put tremendous pressure on natural resources. In Kenya, the growing human population is associated with an increase in developmental needs thus posing a threat to the land resource. This problem has been noted in the high potential areas of the country which support a large population seeking to fully exploit the land resources for their livelihoods and welfare. In Lugari district, human population has been increasing over the years and people have c...
Major sources of coastal and marine pollution affecting coastal condition vary throughout the world, and there is an increasing body of research indicating that the nature and intensity of development activities, the state and type of industry and agriculture, and the size of human populations are significant contributing factors to each region’s unique problems. This study aimed at understanding the extend and impacts of coastal marine waters from land based pollution sources. The mai...
Abstract The agro-climatic conditions in western Kenya present the region as a food surplus area yet people are still reliant on food imports. Numerous interventions through Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices to this front have not yielded the expected results. With this background the study sought to: (i) identify the contribution of ISFM interventions to farm productivity, (ii) to identify gaps in knowledge translation and (iii) to establish the major factors determining ...
Abstract The Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2008 showed that maternal mortality in Kenya is estimated at 488/100,000 live births, and that pregnancy related complications are the leading cause of death (27%) among women of childbearing age (CBS, 2008). Although 92% of women receive antenatal care at least once during pregnancy, a skilled attendant assists only 44% of mothers during childbirth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the factors determining the choice of bi...