Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 crucial to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among the lots of individuals opposed to the creation of a large 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 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, 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 remain well away as it is harmful. The area affected 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 actually rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually registered to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But campaign groups have labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when cravings in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we have to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha here," stated 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 federal government has okayed for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documents.
The business says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.
"We desire to secure the houses and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It denied the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we haven't authorized the job already," said 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 curcas is truly 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 examine simply how green the jatropha task in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would emit in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly since large quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies because 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 worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous new class and pit latrines have actually simply been built.
They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.
"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to construct a classroom and after that send the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not great. You require to have a home before you go to your task."
There are clearly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven company.
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 environments.
"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource should never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are also a rich source of product for traditional medication.
If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, citizens just may turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very simple to eliminate him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
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 fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a good performance history when it comes to working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
