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Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

He is one of the many 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 a dry location and home to some 20,000 people along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually 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 stay well away as it is poisonous. The location affected is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, and Ghana, along with in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have signed up to a regulation which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy should 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 instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have actually labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

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

The company says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the job.

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

"We are helping these individuals. They are really pleased for this task. 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 turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number has to alter and that is why we haven't approved 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 task to be ditched as brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha curcas 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 task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly due to the fact that large quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' vegetation and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

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

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

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

Unorthodox methods

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

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

"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to construct a class and then send out the pupils away," said 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 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 curcas oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to sustainable energy need to never be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are also an abundant source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals simply might turn to unorthodox approaches in a quote to keep the land.

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

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

It is not unexpected they are worried.

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

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea