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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is really essential 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 production 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 individuals along with worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be turned into 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 area affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

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

It has rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

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

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

But project groups have actually identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African communities.

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

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.

The business says hundreds of permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to protect your houses and the private home. We will farm around the homes," Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these individuals. They are very pleased for this project. 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 denied the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we haven't approved the job up to now," stated 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 casts doubt on whether jatropha 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 examine simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly since large amounts of carbon are stored in the forests' greenery and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.

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

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

In response, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive 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 new classrooms and pit latrines have simply been built.

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 worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not great to construct 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 require to have a home before you go to your job."

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

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to eco-friendly energy must never be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are likewise an abundant source of material for standard medicine.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens just might turn to unconventional methods in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is extremely simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional 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 community council.

It is not unexpected they are worried.

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

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea