Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 means 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 area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent 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, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local council.
Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has actually leased almost 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 rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This growth has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to a regulation which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is hard to find 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But project groups have actually identified a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when appetite in the house is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says 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 final documentation.
The company states hundreds of permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these individuals. They are very delighted for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha curcas is truly a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty campaign 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 woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would release between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially because big amounts of carbon are kept in the forests' plants and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional individuals of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most detailed and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been constructed.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.
"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to build a classroom and after that send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. 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 business.
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 natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The woodlands are also an abundant source of material for conventional medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners just may turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really simple to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's community council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have a great track record when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
