Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 bold.

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

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

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

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for permission to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant 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 stay well away as it is harmful. The location affected 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 leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

The 27 EU countries have signed up to a regulation which mentions 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 available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

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

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger at 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 mom 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 actually offered the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documentation.

The business states hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be developed and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.

"We wish to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed 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 government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the job 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 calls into question whether jatropha curcas is really 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 examine just how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would release between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partially since big quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plant life.

"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 globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of local individuals of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most thorough and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

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

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to develop a classroom and then send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."

There are clearly issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy should never be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, citizens simply may turn to unorthodox techniques in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is really simple 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 federal government and Malindi's municipal council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

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

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea