Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 defiant.

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

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

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

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

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

This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The location impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

Kenya Jatropha 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 provided to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other business have leased land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have actually registered to a regulation which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

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

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger in the house is still a truth?"

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

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

The company states numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the task.

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

"We are assisting these individuals. They are extremely pleased for this project. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It denied the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we have not authorized the task already," stated 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 calls into question whether jatropha is actually 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 curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would emit in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly because large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.

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

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

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

Unorthodox techniques

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

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

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a class and then send the students away," stated 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 job."

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

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to eco-friendly energy need to never ever be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, citizens 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 extremely easy to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's local council.

It is not surprising they are stressed.

Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it concerns operating in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea