Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 means shedding blood," he informed the BBC.
"Land is very crucial to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the lots of 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 location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 poisonous. The location affected is neighborhood 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 actually rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This growth has been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have actually registered to a directive which mentions 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 readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But project groups have actually identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the often voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when cravings in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the government has actually given the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documentation.
The business says numerous long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to safeguard your houses and the personal home. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are assisting these people. They are very pleased for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It rejected the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we haven't authorized the project already," stated 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 study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is really 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 examine simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would discharge between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partially since big amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of local individuals of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.
"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to construct a class and after that send out the pupils away," stated 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 job."
There are clearly concerns on the ground that as soon as 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 till it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to eco-friendly energy should never ever be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.
The forests are also an abundant source of material for conventional medication.
If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, citizens simply might turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medicines," stated 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 local council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of the people.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
