Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood," he informed 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 lots of 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 location and home to some 20,000 people in addition to globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

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

It has actually leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.

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 informed we need to move due to the fact that they desire to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has actually offered the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documents.

The business says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.

"We want to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number needs to change and that is why we haven't authorized the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as brand-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 investigate just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly because large amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this vegetation.

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

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

In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

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 closed down.

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

"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task."

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

Ikea says 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 nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to 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 product for standard medicine.

If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, homeowners just might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not unexpected they are worried.

Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea