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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is very important 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 creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 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 actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The area impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

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

It has leased nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This growth has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to a regulation which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy ought 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 instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a car?

But project groups have labelled some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when appetite in the house is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move since they desire to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement 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 begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final paperwork.

The company states numerous irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

"We wish to safeguard your houses and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are helping these people. They are really 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 turned down the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we haven't approved the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be scrapped 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 just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partially since large amounts of carbon are kept in the forests' greenery and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies due to the fact that they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to construct a classroom and then send out the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You need 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 mercy of a profit-driven business.

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 environments.

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

The forests are also a rich source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, locals simply might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea