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Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 suggests 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 one of the numerous people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The area impacted is neighborhood land which is being held 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 almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

This expansion has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU nations have signed up to an instruction which mentions 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 example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a vehicle?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire 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 told we have to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no deal of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has okayed for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.

The company states numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created 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 curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are helping these individuals. They are very delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we haven't authorized 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 ditched as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas 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 simply how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would discharge in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly due to the fact that large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.

"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies because they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of local individuals of their livelihoods," 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 primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have just been built.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.

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

"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your job."

There are plainly concerns on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

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 fossil fuels to sustainable energy must never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of product for standard medication.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, just might turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have a good track record when it comes to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea