Socio-Economic Activities and Natural Resource Degradation in Lowangishu Hills, Burat Ward, Isiolo County

Abstract; This study aimed at examining the impacts of socio-economic activities on the degradation of natural resources in the Lowangishu Hills, Burat Ward, Isiola County, with reference to sand harvesting, charcoal production, firewood collection and over grazing. The descriptive cross-sectional survey method was used in the research conducted in the Lotiki, Alamach, and Aremiet villages with 198 households’ population, where 131 households were sampled to complete the questionnaires surveys. The quantitative data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software that led to percentage and frequency displays. In the findings, it is seen that social factors such as age, sex and education levels have no significant effect on degradation of natural resources. Rather, anthropogenic activities, such as overstocking, vegetation cover, soil erosion, and shrinking water resources are the major causes. The production of charcoal and collection of firewood became the main sources of income that led to the destruction of forests and loss of biodiversity and the harvesting of sands worsened soil erosion and riverbanks. The environmental changes were well exhibited by the members of the community despite the degradation. The study concludes that socio-economic activities have negative impact on natural resources in Lowangishu Hills and proposes the following solutions which include sustainable land use, managing resource use and involvement of community. It also recommends integrating community resources management with livelihood diversification in order to reduce environmental pressure.