IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i4p458-d1372468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Impact of Quarrying as an Environmental Ethic Crisis: A Case Study of Limestone Mining in a Rural Community

Author

Listed:
  • Babalwa Kafu-Quvane

    (Faculty of Education, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa)

  • Sanelisiwe Mlaba

    (Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 8000, South Africa)

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the impact of quarrying as an environmental ethical crisis. The need for the study arose when we realised the deteriorating effect of the quality of life in our community, which is located next to a limestone quarry. To obtain a deeper understanding of the adverse impact on the environment and the quality of life of the people living in the community around the quarry, we explored the workers from the community, and the members of the community-based organisation’s (CBO) experiences. We employed a qualitative method research approach, using a single case study design. We adopted a utilitarian perspective and Pinchot’s conservation as ethical systems that determine morality based on the greatest good for the greatest number. Both provide a framework for analysing environmental problems and ethical crises associated with limestone quarrying. We generated data using face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions. We present and discuss data through the following themes: analysis of the social and cultural impacts on local communities and indigenous people, assessment of the ecological consequences on biodiversity and habitat destruction, and examination of the effects on water resources, air quality, and soil erosion. The results show that the negative effects of the quarry on the environment have always worried the local people. The company’s disrespect for the community and ignorance of the laws governing quarry activities is the root of the ethical dilemma. The detrimental effects that the operations have on human health and safety as well as the environment is the other ethical dilemma, which includes, land degradation, vibrations, air, and water pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Babalwa Kafu-Quvane & Sanelisiwe Mlaba, 2024. "Assessing the Impact of Quarrying as an Environmental Ethic Crisis: A Case Study of Limestone Mining in a Rural Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(4), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:4:p:458-:d:1372468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/4/458/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/4/458/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mudd, Gavin M., 2010. "The Environmental sustainability of mining in Australia: key mega-trends and looming constraints," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 98-115, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Endl, Andreas & Tost, Michael & Hitch, Michael & Moser, Peter & Feiel, Susanne, 2021. "Europe's mining innovation trends and their contribution to the sustainable development goals: Blind spots and strong points," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Pauli Lappi & Markku Ollikainen, 2019. "Optimal Environmental Policy for a Mine Under Polluting Waste Rocks and Stock Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 133-158, May.
    3. Kleijn, René & van der Voet, Ester & Kramer, Gert Jan & van Oers, Lauran & van der Giesen, Coen, 2011. "Metal requirements of low-carbon power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5640-5648.
    4. Lappi, Pauli, 2020. "A model of optimal extraction and site reclamation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    5. S. Vögele & K. Govorukha & P. Mayer & I. Rhoden & D. Rübbelke & W. Kuckshinrichs, 2023. "Effects of a coal phase-out in Europe on reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 879-916, January.
    6. Ruth Lane, 2014. "Understanding the Dynamic Character of Value in Recycling Metals from Australia," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Ki‐Hoon Lee, 2017. "Does Size Matter? Evaluating Corporate Environmental Disclosure in the Australian Mining and Metal Industry: A Combined Approach of Quantity and Quality Measurement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 209-223, February.
    8. West, James, 2020. "Extractable global resources and the future availability of metal stocks: “Known Unknowns” for the foreseeable future," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Saidia Ali & Farid Shirazi, 2022. "A Transformer-Based Machine Learning Approach for Sustainable E-Waste Management: A Comparative Policy Analysis between the Swiss and Canadian Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Henning Wigger & Till Zimmermann & Christian Pade, 2015. "Broadening our view on nanomaterials: highlighting potentials to contribute to a sustainable materials management in preliminary assessments," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 110-128, March.
    11. Mardi Dungey & Renee Fry-McKibbin & Verity Linehan, 2014. "Chinese resource demand and the natural resource supplier," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 167-178, January.
    12. Vintró, Carla & Fortuny, Jordi & Sanmiquel, Lluís & Freijo, Modesto & Edo, Joaquín, 2012. "Is corporate social responsibility possible in the mining sector? Evidence from Catalan companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 118-125.
    13. Prince Amoah & Gabriel Eweje, 2021. "Impact mitigation or ecological restoration? Examining the environmental sustainability practices of multinational mining companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 551-565, January.
    14. Reeson, Andrew & Measham, Thomas G. & Hosking, Karin, 2012. "Mining activity, income inequality and gender in regional Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(2), pages 1-12.
    15. Theodore Metaxas & Maria Tsavdaridou, 2017. "Environmental Policy and CSR in Petroleum Refining Companies in Greece: Content and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Analysis," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(03), pages 1-29, September.
    16. Harald Ulrik Sverdrup & Anna Hulda Olafsdottir, 2018. "A System Dynamics Model Assessment of the Supply of Niobium and Tantalum Using the WORLD6 Model," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-35, June.
    17. Nicholas Bainton & Deanna Kemp & Eleonore Lèbre & John R. Owen & Greg Marston, 2021. "The energy‐extractives nexus and the just transition," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 624-634, July.
    18. Carmelo Pinedo-Álvarez & Karla Ozuki Chacón-Chumacero & Alfredo Pinedo-Álvarez & Martín Martínez-Salvador & Marusia Rentería-Villalobos & Eduardo Santellano-Estrada & Sandra Rodríguez-Piñeros, 2017. "Using Social, Economic and Land-Use Indices to Build a Local Sustainability Index in a Mining Region of the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, August.
    19. Pons, Adrià & Vintrò, Carla & Rius, Josep & Vilaplana, Jordi, 2021. "Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility in mining industries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Stefan Giljum & Monika Dittrich & Mirko Lieber & Stephan Lutter, 2014. "Global Patterns of Material Flows and their Socio-Economic and Environmental Implications: A MFA Study on All Countries World-Wide from 1980 to 2009," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:4:p:458-:d:1372468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.