Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth


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 bold.


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


"Land is extremely 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 development of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.


It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.


Ambitious goals


An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent 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 long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. The area affected is community land which is being held in trust by the regional council.


Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.


It has leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other business have rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.


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


The 27 EU countries have registered to a regulation which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.


Why is Africa impacted?


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


Why 'feed' an automobile?


But project groups have labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the often voiceless African communities.


Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in your home is still a reality?"


"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually 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 mom of 2, who added 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 federal government has provided the green light for a pilot project 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 created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.


"We wish to protect the homes and the private home. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


"We are assisting these individuals. They are really happy 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 actually not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.


"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the project already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).


However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be ditched as new research casts doubt on 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 examine simply how green the jatropha curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests 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 since large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.


"The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said Coxon.


"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.


In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most thorough and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".


Unorthodox techniques


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


They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.


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


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


There are plainly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.


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


"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.


The forests are also an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.


If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.


"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very easy to eliminate him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.


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


It is not unexpected they are fretted.


Kenya's politicians do not have a great performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.


ActionAid


Kenya jatropha curcas Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea