Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 implies shedding blood," he told 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 numerous people opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is harmful. The area 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 actually leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the exact 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 enthusiastic objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its reliance on imported oil.

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

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' a car?

But project groups have identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions 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 actually been informed we need to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has actually offered the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final paperwork.

The company says hundreds of irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.

"We want to safeguard your homes and the personal home. We will farm around your houses," Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these individuals. 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 actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we haven't authorized the project up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha job to be ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is really 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly due to the fact that big amounts of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this vegetation.

"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said 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 incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

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

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to construct a classroom and after that send out the students away," stated 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 task."

There are clearly concerns on the ground that once 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 up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

The forests are likewise a rich source of material for conventional medication.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents just may turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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 worried.

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

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea