Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 indicates shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the many people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is community 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 actually leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This expansion has been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic goals for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually registered to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is tough to find 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But campaign groups have actually labelled some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when cravings in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we need to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final paperwork.
The business states hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to safeguard the houses and the private residential or commercial property. We will farm around the homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are very delighted for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning 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 has to alter which is why we have not authorized the project already," 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 new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha 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 simply how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would emit in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plants and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local individuals of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new class and pit latrines have just been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to construct a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not great. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
There are plainly concerns on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.
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 habitats.
"This switch from fossil fuels to eco-friendly energy should never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.
The forests are likewise a rich source of product for standard medicine.
If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents just may turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not surprising they are worried.
Kenya's politicians do not have a great performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
