Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

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 defiant.

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

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

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for permission to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The area impacted is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

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

It has rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

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

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is tough to discover 50,000 hectares of available 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 alarming consequences for the often voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when appetite at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move since they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the federal government has offered the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documents.

The company says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to safeguard the houses 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 very delighted 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 not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we have not approved the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be ditched as brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha is really 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 just how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would emit in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly because large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

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

In reaction, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to build a classroom and after that send out the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You require 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 grace of a profit-driven business.

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

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

The forests are also an abundant source of material for conventional medication.

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, homeowners simply may turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote 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 conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.