Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree next to 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 suggests shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is one of 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 location and home to some 20,000 people in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

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

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

It has leased nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have identified a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when hunger at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included 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 government has okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documents.

The company states numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.

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

"We are assisting these individuals. They are really delighted for this project. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

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

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number has to change which is why we haven't approved the job up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as new research study calls into question whether jatropha is really a greener option 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 job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly because big quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying countless local individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox techniques

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to develop a class and then send the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

There are plainly issues on the ground that as soon as 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 till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from fossil fuels to eco-friendly energy must never ever be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are likewise a rich source of material for traditional medication.

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

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not surprising they are worried.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea