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 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 important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

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

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

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

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

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

It has actually leased 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 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 enthusiastic goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.

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

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is tough 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 actually labelled some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the frequently voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when cravings in the house is still a truth?"

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

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

The business states numerous permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the job.

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

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not approved the job up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is really a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty project 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 forests would be.

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

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' vegetation and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plants.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.

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

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to construct a classroom and then send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

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

Ikea states 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 nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never ever be at the expenditure of people 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 government and the local authorities, residents simply may turn to unconventional methods in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are worried.

Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it comes to operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea