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 really important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among the many people opposed to the production of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 people in addition to globally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has asked the authorities for permission to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The location impacted is community land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has actually leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This growth has been spurred by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to a regulation which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But project groups have actually identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in your home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move due to the fact that they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the federal government has actually provided the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documents.
The business says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.
"We wish to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around the homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really delighted for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number has to change and that is why we haven't authorized the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha job to be ditched as brand-new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 simply how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would emit between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly because large quantities of carbon are stored in the forests' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not decreasing 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 extinction and denying countless regional people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most detailed and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been developed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a class and after that send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
There are clearly concerns on the ground that as soon as 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 add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to eco-friendly energy need to never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for traditional medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is very easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of the people here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
