Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
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 defiant.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he informed the BBC.
"Land is really crucial 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 development of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious goals
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 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 toxic. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is difficult to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But project groups have actually labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when appetite in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the federal government has actually offered the green light for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last paperwork.
The business states numerous permanent and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We want to protect your houses and the private property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are assisting these people. They are extremely happy for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to change which is why we have not approved the task already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as brand-new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is actually a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would discharge in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partially because big amounts of carbon are stored in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plant life.
"The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless regional individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced 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 funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not good to build a classroom and after that send out the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your task."
There are clearly concerns 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 oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource need to never ever be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The forests are likewise a rich source of product for standard medicine.
If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, residents simply might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is extremely simple to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not surprising they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
