Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 indicates shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is extremely essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the many individuals opposed to the production of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

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

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.

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

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

It has actually leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

Because it is challenging to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have actually identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the frequently voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we have to move since they wish to plant jatropha curcas 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 settlements are over - the federal government has actually okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documents.

The business states numerous irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.

"We desire to secure the homes and the private residential or commercial 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 really pleased for this task. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It refused the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to validate if the number needs to change and that is why we haven't authorized the project 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 brand-new research calls into question whether jatropha is actually 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partially because large amounts of carbon are kept in the forests' vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.

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

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

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

Unorthodox techniques

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been developed.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not good to build a class and after that send out the pupils 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 job."

There are clearly issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

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

The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for traditional medication.

If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, homeowners just might turn to unorthodox approaches in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it pertains to operating in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea