Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

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

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

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

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

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

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

This growth has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have signed up to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is tough 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 campaign groups have identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in the house is still a reality?"

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the federal government has actually provided the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documentation.

The business says hundreds of permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

"We desire to protect your homes and the personal home. We will farm around the homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these people. They are really happy for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number has to alter and that is why we haven't authorized the task up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be ditched as new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 examine just how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would discharge in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partially since large amounts of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional people of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to build a class and after that send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

There are plainly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are also a rich source of material for standard medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unconventional techniques in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very simple to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not unexpected they are fretted.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a good track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea