Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree next to 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 told the BBC.

"Land is really essential 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 creation of a large 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 in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location affected 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

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

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we need to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

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

The business says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to safeguard the houses 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 individuals. They are very pleased for this task. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand mentioning issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to change which is why we have not authorized the task already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as new research 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 task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly because large quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report shows that EU policies are foolish 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 extinction and depriving 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 plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have actually simply been developed.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not good to build a class and then send the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."

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

Ikea states it will not source jatropha 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 eco-friendly energy need to never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

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

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

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.