Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 suggests shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

He is among the lots of individuals opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is poisonous. The area impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

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

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

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

The 27 EU countries have actually 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 tough to find 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have actually identified a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the federal government has offered the green light for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.

The company states numerous permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the task.

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

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we have not authorized the project up to now," said 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 is really 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 how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would discharge between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partially since large amounts of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

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

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to develop a class and after that send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require 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 business.

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource should never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are likewise a rich source of material for conventional medication.

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

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of individuals here remains 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 good performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea