Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

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 indicates shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is really 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 production of a big 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 in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for authorization to lease 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 stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being kept 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 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 actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

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

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is difficult 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 project groups have identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move because they wish to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had 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 offered the green light for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documentation.

The company states hundreds of long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the task.

"We want to safeguard the houses and the private home. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these individuals. They are very delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

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

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we have not approved the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be ditched as new research casts doubt on 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 examine simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly because big quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.

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

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

In reaction, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to build a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You need 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 company.

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

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to eco-friendly energy should never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are likewise a rich source of material for standard medication.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is extremely simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of the people 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 a great track record when it comes to working in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea