Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 defiant.

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

“Land is very essential to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is among the lots of people opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for permission to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become 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 affected is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has rented 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 rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why ‘feed’ a vehicle?

But project groups have actually labelled some of the jobs in Africa “land grabs” with dire consequences for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ a cars and truck in Europe when cravings in your home is still a truth?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we need to move because they wish to plant jatropha here,” said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over – the government has offered the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.

The business states numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it that anybody will be displaced by the job.

“We want to safeguard your houses 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 assisting these individuals. They are really happy for this task. No-one will be moved.”

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government’s environment guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand citing issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

“We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not 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 job to be ditched as brand-new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha task in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partially since large amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands’ vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.

“The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” stated ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local people of their incomes,” stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as “the most detailed and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world”.

Unorthodox techniques

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous new class and pit latrines have actually just been constructed.

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

“My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not great to build a class and then send the students away,” said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

There are clearly concerns on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.

“This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource need to never ever be at the cost of individuals or the environment,” Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are also an abundant source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the government and the local authorities, citizens just might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications,” said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are worried.

Kenya’s politicians do not have an excellent performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea