Environmental Effects OF Quarrying PDF

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“Environmental Effects of Quarrying” Introduction For many years, the rate of environmental concerns has been increasing and rampant in the world specifically in the Philippines. Philippines is known for its natural beauty as well as its abundant natural resources such as beautiful mountains, untouched islands, riverbanks and the likes which provide the communities important ecosystem services. And it is acknowledged for its unique and rich in biodiversity in which rare plants and animals were found in the country. However, Philippines is also one of the many countries that frequently experience environmental disasters such as typhoons, landslide, etc. and also affected by climate change due to the man activities which are not eco-friendly and that contributes to the negative results and damages to the environment. One of the destructive man-made activities that is usually conducted in the Philippines is quarrying. Quarrying is a process which remove stones or construction materials from the land and riverbanks. There are two types of quarrying, that is, mountain quarrying and river quarrying. Both of them have substantial negative environmental effects. Issues on quarrying is still going-on and were discussed in media. In fact, there are issues of illegal quarrying activity cases all over the country that were reported which has been operated at the beaches, riverbanks, and mountains in specific regions and rural areas in the Philippines which caused coastal erosions, floods in seaside communities, even caused accidents and casualties. Hence, we the researchers want to know what are the impacts of quarrying because it is important to understand this man activity in order to educate and to give awareness about its dangers because it is an issue that needs to be addressed because it does not only harm the environment but it can also damage people’s lives.

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See What do I know about this issue? In year 2012, it is reported that the number of quarrying firms in the Philippines was higher by 188.2 percent compared the number of quarrying establishments recorded in 2010, hence, the quarry industry has been growing in the recent years. It cannot be denied that quarrying has positive effects contributed not just in the Philippine economy but also in our daily life, however, even if quarrying is considered as one of the most important activities in the country, it is also one of the many reasons why the environment is polluted and not safe to live because quarrying contributes harmful effects and create significant damages. Quarrying is an activity wherein the rock, sand, gravel, or other non-metallic rocks that is from the riverbanks and mountains are being removed to be used as materials for construction. It is done through an open cast method using explosion of dynamites, rock drills and other methods. In this activity, some of its important products are rock aggregates also known as sand and gravel (Martin and Discipulo 1996). Other stones that are also extracted include sandstone, ironstone, slate, and phosphate rock. The nature of quarrying process leads to negative environmental consequences both in the duration of quarrying process and after the quarry site is closed. Quarrying operations can be done through mountain quarrying and river quarrying. In mountain quarrying, its activity involves scraping the upland soil and vegetation which destructs the value of the extracted area. On the other hand, river quarrying, is the common type of quarrying that is done in the Philippines which extracts sand and gravel. River quarrying transforms the riverbeds into large and deep pits, as a result, the groundwater table drops leaving the drinking water wells on the embankments of these rivers dry. Bed degradation from instream quarrying lowers the elevation

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of streamflow and the floodplain water table which in turn can eliminate water table-dependent woody vegetation in riparian areas, and decrease wetted periods in riparian wetlands. For locations near to the sea, saline water may intrude into the fresh waterbody. Aside from that, quarrying weakens soil cohesion, widens riverbanks, as well as lowers its elevation. Also, it makes the deepening of the riverbeds uneven which can cause destruction to the riverbanks, thus damages the environment. This is supported by the study in Palawan conducted by Israel et al. (2001), wherein they found out quarrying specifically river quarrying creates negative impacts to the environment. These two kinds of quarry operations can more cause pollution, soil erosion, flooding and siltation. Also, these quarrying activities generate dusts due to their transportation as well as noise pollution in quarry areas. In addition, some of environmental disruptions which created by quarrying are produced directly by engineering activities for the duration of aggregate extraction and processing (Nanor, 2011). Although there are specific impacts of quarrying that are shortterm and easy to expect and observe but still, it is better to be alert and not be complacent. What have we experienced of this? In the present time, it cannot be disagreed that quarrying is really helpful in people’s daily life experience since it provided roads for easy travel access, schools, and other buildings that are essential for the life of citizens in the country which contributes to the country’s structure advancement. It also provides job opportunities and it plays a major role in the expansion of modern economy. However, it is also observed that quarrying activities is a threat to the daily experiences of human being. According to World Health Organization (1997), one of the major factors that contribute to poor health and quality of life is a failing environmental conditions which can hinder viable development and that the quality of the environment is a crucial direct

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and indirect factor of human health. Some of the negative effects of quarry can be experience in everyday life. First, the dust from quarries make the air polluted. The process of quarry produces hazard chemical vapors and silica dust. Air pollution can cause possible health complications such as respiratory and cardiovascular problems and among others. Aside from that, people who are exposed to this can acquire diseases such as silicosis and pneumoconiosis. Dust from quarrying activities increased the risk of having tuberculosis and lung cancer. Second, the noise pollution which is one of the complaints of the people situated close the area. This is usually generated by the transportation, machinery and blasting that are generated by quarry operations. Other possible quarrying results which are considered as a concern contain reduced plant growth, land decay, and biodiversity loss. Given these observations, those people who are living near in quarry sites can directly experience this and prone to the hazards of this activity. Who are affected most by this and how? Quarrying in stream channels mostly affect the environment, the people, and the animals. It can damage both public and private properties which affects the livelihood of the people living near the area especially in rural communities wherein the people there primarily depend on the natural resources of their environment. Also, it can kill people and caused severe accidents due to deadly landslides. Some of the major environmental negative effects by quarrying activities include devastation of vegetation, soil erosion, river siltation, dust pollution, and landslide. In 2018, it is reported that quarrying operations in seven regions in the Philippines were temporarily closed because an island in Cebu City close to a limestone quarry was affected by a landslide triggered by typhoon Mangkhut which killed approximately 29 people and some were trapped under the debris. This alone served as a warning that quarry operation is indeed deadly and harmful.

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A research by Stehouwer et al. (2006) stated that arable lands are damaged and the rate of erosion processes rises due to quarrying activities because it uses great pressure on limited soil and water resources. Quarrying does not only affect people but it also disturbs wild animals because quarrying activities disrupts and create damages to animal habitats wherein the clearing land that is used to develop accessible roads as well as the opening up of quarry sites caused the demolition of their homes. Aside from that, quarrying activities affect the river’s water quality which include increased short-term turbidity at the quarry site because of resuspension of sediment, sedimentation due to stockpiling and dumping of excess mining materials and organic particulate matter, and oil spills or leakage from excavation machinery and transportation vehicles. Also, the transmission of dust from the quarry site to the surface of the water can cause contamination, thus affects the daily living of the people residing near the river as well as destroys and kills the marine species in the river since the dust contains active minerals which changes water chemistry (Banez et al, 2010). Quarrying can also lead to flooding wherein inadequate drainage for the water from the quarry site to vacate which productive land might be affected to flood and these huge tracks of water that will accumulate to nearby communities may serve as a possible source of water-vectored and water-based diseases which are threats to the health of the people. This environmental issue may not be known to everyone but quarrying is considered as one of the most dangerous activities that affects the lives of the many. According to Lad and Samant (2013) that this activity leaves significant long-term economic, social, and environmental marks. The increase rate of quarrying activities is related to the social challenges that the community has been facing including health and safety threats, communities being displaced, the damages of cultural sites, and villages that are used for the formation of quarry sites.

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How has the issue arisen? Due to the arising demands from the development and operation activities and population expansion, quarrying operations has become a crucial component of the Philippine economy and structure advancement because it is helpful for the construction of the roads and infrastructures especially in the remote areas in provinces who do not have access and in the quarrying industry, on the other hand, this activity has become an issue because it has placed the country’s environment under threat. Aside from that, there are illegal quarrying activities that were conducted in specific regions of the country without permission from Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and that caused negative impacts to the environment and put the lives of so many people at risk. This issue has risen due to the needs of quarrying industry wherein there is a need for producing structures and buildings. With that, there are many companies which opened quarries and performed this activity in the country especially in remote places wherein most of them do not have the required permits. For instance, in October 2016, a raid by NBI on quarry sites were found illegally operating which results in cancellation of their Environmental Clearance Certificates. Despite being banned and suspended for its adverse environmental consequences, companies that conduct illegal quarrying activities still continue which made this issue even bigger and worse. A study by Israel et al. (2001) about the quarrying in Palawan, found that there are numerous of illegal quarry operators that are present. Illegal quarrying is unfavorable especially to the environment because illegal operators worsen the condition of the environment through violating rules in quarrying such as collecting aggregates in rivers and conducting quarrying operations to environmentally sensitive areas.

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This issue has become a serious problem and quite alarming because although there are existing environmental laws in the Philippines and the fact that these are implemented, yet, illegal quarrying persists because of the lack of efforts in supervision by the authorities, and the strict requirement for rehabilitation of quarries, as well as the failure to create repairing or postquarrying programs that will minimize its hostile impacts to the environment. Moreover, it has been observed that most quarrying sites were left without being rehabilitated after the closure of quarrying operations in many progressing countries (Darwish et al., 2010). If these problems and the quarrying operations will not be regulated, there is no doubt that this environmental concern will grow into a more serious problem which will be a threat to Filipino lives. Judge Economic Factor What influence does economics have on this issue? In the Philippines, quarrying has been known and still going on for so many years for it made positive economic impacts which strengthens the general economic development of the country especially that the current administration supports the infrastructure program or the “build-build-build” program wherein construction materials are really needed that resulted to the robust development of quarrying industry. Quarrying plays a vital part in the economic growth of the country. According to Cerilles (1999), nature is the primary provider in terms of resources and it has been observed that the economic development in a region lies on the resource extractive industries such as quarrying. It is recorded that from year 1985 until 1998, the average production of sand and gravel annually is valued around P4 billion.

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In an article in Rappler (2013), a renowed economist, Nouriel Roubini stated that the quarrying division will be a vital source of the economic development for the Philippines in the future. However, it was reported that in the fourth quarter of the year 2012, the quarrying sector has contributed only 0.2% to the total economy which lessen the Gross Domestic Product by 0.1%. But recently, quarrying has improved wherein it accelerated from 5.4% growth to 10.0% growth in the fourth quarter of 2018. The main factor and contributed to this growth include stone quarrying, clay and sandpits, non-metallic mining etc. Who controls the resources (natural and human resources, manufactured goods and money) involved? The natural resources that are the source of quarry operations are mostly found in the rural areas of the Philippines. And these resources are under the control of the Philippine government. In such ways that the government set the environmental standards of the country. It controls the land that the citizens use especially lands that involved in quarry operations and has the power to allow specific industries that would conduct business activities such as quarrying. In addition, there have been environmental laws that were implemented by the national government to regulate and to control the natural resources in the provinces of the country. In the 8

Philippines, the Local Government Code of 1991, delegated power, responsibility as well as the resources to the local government. But, sectors such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) still regulates and leads in terms of managing the natural resources. For the meantime, in specific regions of the country, the provincial and municipal governments have limited role in managing the resources. Who benefits economically from this situation? In the present situation, it is an advantage to the development of Philippine economy. Quarrying operations generates huge amount of income avenue which is helpful to the country’s economic growth. The implication of the increase of income is that more money is added in the local economy and this money can be an investment for the development of infrastructures which helps in developing the community welfare. In the Philippines, it is showed that quarry operation all over the country have made production sales of P13.72 million which contributed in excise tax by P274,441.39 in 2003. Also, quarrying creates job opportunities wherein it helps the unemployment rate decreases which contribute directly to the local economy. Through quarrying, it gives and improves the livelihood of the citizen especially in rural areas which lessens rural poverty. According to Ibrahim (2007), in Southeast Asia, the natural resources plays an important role in the employment conditions of the people because in progressing countries, the formal sectors have a very small potential in terms of job opportunities, thus, the informal divisions is so far, the better alternative for attaining livelihood needs. Who suffers? Yet, given these economic advantages, it is important to note that it puts the environment at risk. The negative impacts to the environment outweighs the benefits of quarrying operations. A study conducted by Israel et al. (2001) confirmed that both the quarrying sites and the

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households near the area believed that they were suffering ill deficiencies due to quarrying activities. Aside from that, the workers in quarry companies suffer from the negative impacts of the health due to this activity. Moreover, one of the major problems in this issue is that, while the companies that owned quarrying sites gained the biggest share and benefited from quarrying operations do not consider the communities that are affected and suffered from the negative effects of this kind of project. If these quarrying issues will not be addressed, it will continue to cause severe environmental and health problems. Thus, it is important to know which is more worth the risk, the economic development or environment safety? Political Factor What influence does politics have on this issue? The government has different roles in environmental matter. It is their role to protect the environment and its natural resources and to make sure that the environmental activities are for sustainable use wherein its benefits are equally distributed to the citizens as well as to protect the properties of people living near the quarry sites especially in the indigenous communities. Politics influence environmental legislations that can be either positive or negative. And that, there is a controversial issue that there is a hint of influence by politics on quarrying operations which affects the environment negatively. Some government sectors failed to regulate quarry operations and failed to thoroughly check the legal permits of quarry owner which makes illegal quarrying activities continue and operate. In quarrying, companies still need to file permits in order for them to legally quarry out minerals of the city. In filing permits, they need to be approved and signed by the government, this then becomes the problem. Numerous companies have connections within the government, connections that equal to either friendship or money or both that may lead to approving the said companies’ quarrying permits without

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going through the correct processes, processes wherein the State is responsible of promoting their rational exploration, development, utilization and conservation of the environment and protect the rights of affected communities. One miss of the process may lead to destruction of our environment without us knowing because they were legally approved. Aside from that, some of the government officials who are coordinating with the business sectors are involved in corruption especially in local government wherein they allow illegal quarry operations because they can benefit large amount of shares that they acquire in this activity together with their business partners. Who has the critical decision-making power in this situation? In this situation, the national government plays the crucial role in making critical decisions regarding this environmental issue. It is their role to take the initiative steps for the improvement of the environment because they have to decide what efficient environmental laws that are to be implemented in order to regulate quarrying activities and prevent the abuse of quarry operators. However, due to subjectivity when it comes to decision making, political interests have become vested in th...