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 bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is one of the lots of individuals opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 people in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.

This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is poisonous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

Kenya Jatropha 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 business have rented land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have signed up to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

Because it is tough to discover 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a vehicle?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck 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 due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the government has okayed for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.

The business says numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.

"We wish to protect your homes and the personal residential or commercial property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

"We are helping these people. They are extremely delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It refused the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to alter and that is why we haven't approved the job already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha curcas is truly 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 curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partially because large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' vegetation and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.

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

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

In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is bad to construct a class and then send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You require 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 grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea states it will not source jatropha 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 renewable energy need to never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are likewise a rich source of material for traditional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not unexpected they are worried.

Kenya's politicians do not have a great performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea