Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

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 defiant.

“We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

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

He is among the many individuals opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people along with globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally 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 held in trust by the regional council.

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

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

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

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why ‘feed’ a vehicle?

But campaign groups have labelled some of the jobs in Africa “land grabs” with alarming repercussions for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when hunger in the house is still a reality?”

“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 added that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over – the federal government has okayed for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last paperwork.

The company says hundreds of permanent and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it rejects that anybody 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 assisting these individuals. They are really delighted for this job. 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 preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

“We were suggesting 1,000 hectares … We have informed them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we haven’t approved the task up to now,” stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be as new research study 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 project in Kenya’s Dakatcha forests would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would produce between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partially because large quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands’ plants and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.

“The report shows that EU policies are silly policies because they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” said ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and denying countless regional individuals of their incomes,” said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as “the most thorough and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world”.

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union – the very organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.

“My worry is the displacement of the community. It is bad to build a classroom and then send the students away,” stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

“Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your job.”

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

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

“This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to sustainable energy need to never be at the expense of individuals or the environment,” Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

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

If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, citizens just may turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.

“If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is really simple to remove him with our medications,” stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, 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 community council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya’s politicians do not have a good track record when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea