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 bold.
"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 income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the numerous people opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 people along with globally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has asked the authorities for permission 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 actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The area impacted is community land which is being kept 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer 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 lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance 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 impacted?
Because it is tough to find 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 project groups have labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the typically voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when appetite in the house is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we have to move because 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 offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documents.
The business says numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are very delighted for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number needs to change and that is why we have not approved the task already," 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 casts doubt on whether jatropha is truly 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 just how green the jatropha job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would emit between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly because large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plant life.
"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies due to the fact that 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 internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying countless local individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In reaction, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most detailed and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new class and pit latrines have simply been developed.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.
"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to develop a class and then send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your job."
There are plainly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to sustainable energy must never ever be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The woodlands are also a rich source of product for traditional medication.
If they feel pull down by the government and the local authorities, citizens just may turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing 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 municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it pertains to operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
