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 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 among 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 location and home to some 20,000 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich 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 remain well away as it is toxic. The area affected is community 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 actually rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is difficult to discover 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But campaign groups have identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the often voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when cravings at home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has actually given the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.
The business says numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the project.
"We desire to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are extremely pleased for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the preliminary 50,000-hectare request pointing out concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number needs to alter 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 calls for the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as new research calls into question whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would give off between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of regional individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have just been built.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely 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 bad to construct a class and after that send the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your task."
There are clearly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven company.
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 environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.
If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, homeowners simply may turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is very easy to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a good performance history when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
