Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
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 informed 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 many people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious goals
An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.
This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The area impacted is community land which is being kept in trust by the local council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This growth has been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have signed up to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is tough to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' an automobile?
But project groups have identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when appetite in your 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 wish to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no deal of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations 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 paperwork.
The business says hundreds of long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.
"We want to secure the homes and the private property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are very pleased for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we have not 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 task to be ditched as brand-new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas 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 fossil fuels.
This is partly due to the fact that large amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies because they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of 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 sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new class and pit latrines have just been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.
"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to develop a classroom and after that send the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is not great. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
There are clearly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.
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 fossil fuels to sustainable energy should never be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are also an abundant source of material for conventional medicine.
If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really easy to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's community council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent track record when it concerns working in the interests of the people.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
