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 defiant.

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

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

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

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with 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 curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become 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 impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have rented land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought 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 instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a car?

But project groups have actually labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the often 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 actually been informed we have to move since they want to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documents.

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

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

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It denied the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning issues over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to validate if the number needs to change which is why we have not authorized the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is truly 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 examine just how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

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

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving countless regional people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

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

Unorthodox methods

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not good to construct a class and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

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

Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.

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

The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for traditional medicine.

If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unconventional approaches in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of individuals here is 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 a great track record when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea