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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.
"Land is really crucial to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among 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 location and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. The location affected is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.
Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have signed up to a regulation which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is challenging to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But project groups have labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when hunger in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we have to move because they desire to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has offered the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documents.
The company says hundreds of permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the project.
"We wish to secure your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning 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 has to alter which is why we have not approved the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha is truly a greener option 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 curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would discharge in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are stored in the forests' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plants.
"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying countless local individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In reaction, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of brand-new class and pit latrines have actually just been developed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.
"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not great. You need 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 business.
Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy must never ever be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The forests are likewise an abundant source of material for traditional medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is really simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's community council.
It is not surprising they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a good track record when it comes to working in the interests of the people.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
