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 implies shedding blood," he informed 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 many individuals opposed to the creation 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 individuals as well as globally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be turned 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 dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the local council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have signed up to a directive which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But campaign groups have labelled some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the frequently 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 been informed we have to move since they want to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the federal government has given the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last paperwork.
The company says numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We desire to protect the homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are assisting these individuals. They are very happy for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand citing issues over the effect 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 change which is why we have not authorized the job already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha is really a greener alternative 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 woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would release in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly since large quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.
"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving thousands of local people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most detailed and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous new class and pit latrines have just been built.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to build a classroom and after that send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is not good. You need to have a home before you go to your job."
There are plainly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to sustainable energy need to never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are also an abundant source of product for conventional medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals simply might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to remove him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are fretted.
Kenya's politicians do not have a great track record when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
