Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

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 defiant.


"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 livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."


He is one of the numerous individuals opposed to the production of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.


It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.


Ambitious objectives


An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.


This plant, initially 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 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.


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


The 27 EU countries have actually registered to an instruction which states 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' a vehicle?


But project groups have labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African communities.


Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in your home is still a reality?"


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


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


The company states numerous long-term and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.


"We desire to protect your houses and the personal residential or commercial property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


"We are assisting these people. 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 preliminary 50,000-hectare demand mentioning concerns over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the task.


"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we have not 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 scrapped as brand-new research casts doubt on 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 just 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 would discharge between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.


This is partly since big quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this greenery.


"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," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.


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


In response, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most detailed and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".


Unorthodox approaches


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


They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.


"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to build 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 not great. You need to have a home before you go to your task."


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


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


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


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


If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, residents just may turn to unconventional approaches in a quote to keep the land.


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


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


It is not surprising they are fretted.


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


ActionAid


Kenya Jatropha Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea