Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

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

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people along with worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

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

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

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

This growth has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up 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 hard to find 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a vehicle?

But campaign groups have labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in your home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move due to the fact that they want 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 says the settlements are over - the government has actually provided the green light for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.

The business says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.

"We desire to safeguard your homes and the private home. We will farm around the homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 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 told them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we haven't approved the task already," 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 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 just 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 curcas would discharge between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partially due to the fact that large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' plants and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plants.

"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies because they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying countless local individuals of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

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

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to build a class and after that send out the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task."

There are clearly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace 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 add to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to eco-friendly energy need to never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are likewise a rich source of product for conventional medication.

If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, residents simply may turn to unorthodox approaches 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 medications," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of individuals here is 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 pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea