Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree beside his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is very essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is among the numerous individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is harmful. The area impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This expansion has been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is difficult to discover 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a vehicle?

But project groups have labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when appetite at home is still a reality?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we need to move because they want to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has actually provided the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documents.

The company states numerous long-term and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are helping these individuals. They are extremely pleased for this task. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It declined the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number has to change and that is why we have not approved the job already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha curcas is truly a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty campaign group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would produce between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partly since big quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plants.

"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving countless regional people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have just been built.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not great to develop a class and then send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your job."

There are clearly concerns on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy should never be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are also a rich source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners just may turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of the people here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's community council.

It is not they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea