Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is extremely essential to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the numerous people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for approval to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich 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 stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This expansion has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious goals for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have registered to a directive which mentions 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 readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But campaign groups have identified some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger in the house is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we need to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the federal government has offered the green light for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.
The company states numerous permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to safeguard your houses and the private property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are assisting these people. They are really delighted for this project. 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 declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we have not approved the project already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as brand-new research study casts doubt on 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 simply how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would release in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly since large amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plants.
"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing 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 termination and depriving countless regional individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new class and pit latrines have just been developed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to build a classroom and after that send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You need 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 company.
Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are also 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 objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of the individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.
It is not unexpected they are fretted.
Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
