Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 means shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is extremely essential 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 development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood 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 actually rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

The 27 EU have registered to a directive which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' an automobile?

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

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when hunger in the house is still a reality?"

"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 mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has offered the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last paperwork.

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

"We desire to secure the homes 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 people. They are really happy 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 rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

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

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research study calls into question 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 curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly since big quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of local people of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

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

Unorthodox techniques

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have actually just been developed.

They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to construct a class and then send the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your task."

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

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

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never ever be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are also a rich source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, residents simply might turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.

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

The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.

It is not unexpected they are fretted.

Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea