Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 implies shedding blood," he informed 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 many individuals opposed to the production of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for authorization to rent 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 long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The area impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

This growth has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually registered to an instruction which specifies 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 campaign groups have actually identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when appetite in the house is still a reality?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we have to move due to the fact that they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has actually given the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documentation.

The company says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the job.

"We want to protect the homes and the private property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these people. They are really pleased for this project. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we have not approved the job up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether is truly a greener alternative 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 job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would give off between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' plants and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

"The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying countless local people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have simply been constructed.

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to construct a class and after that send out the students away," stated 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 plainly concerns on the ground that once 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 habitats.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must never ever be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are also a rich source of material for standard medicine.

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is very easy to eliminate him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of the people here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's local council.

It is not surprising they are stressed.

Kenya's politicians do not have a great performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea