Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 defiant.

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

"Land is very important 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 development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

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

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The location affected is community 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 oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

Because it is challenging to discover 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a car?

But project groups have actually labelled some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when appetite in your home is still a reality?"

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.

The company says numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the project.

"We want to secure your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed 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 government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we have not approved the project up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be ditched 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 examine just how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partially since large quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plant life and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.

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

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

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

Unorthodox techniques

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is bad to construct a class and then send the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need 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 grace of a profit-driven business.

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 environments.

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

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

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

"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very simple to eliminate 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 unexpected they are worried.

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