Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth


23 March 2011


By Will Ross


BBC News, Dakatcha


Being 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 means shedding blood," he told 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 one of the lots of individuals 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 a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.


Ambitious goals


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


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


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


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


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


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


Why is Africa affected?


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


Why 'feed' a cars and truck?


But campaign groups have identified some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.


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


"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need 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 offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.


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


The business says hundreds of irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.


"We wish to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


"We are helping these individuals. They are very happy for this project. No-one will be moved."


How green are biofuels?


According to the Kenyan federal watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.


"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number has to alter and that is why we haven't approved the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).


However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is really 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 simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.


The 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 since big amounts of carbon are saved in the forests' plants 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 reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.


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


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


Unorthodox approaches


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


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


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


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


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


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 nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.


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


If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, locals simply may turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.


"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is really easy to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.


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


It is not unexpected they are worried.


Kenya's politicians do not have a great track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of the individuals.


ActionAid


Kenya Jatropha Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea