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 bold.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies 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 lots of people opposed to the production of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people along with globally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to lease 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 remain well away as it is harmful. 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 actually leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This growth has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is tough to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But campaign groups have labelled a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when appetite in the house is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move because they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the federal government has okayed for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last paperwork.
The business says hundreds of long-term and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.
"We wish to protect the homes and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these individuals. They are very delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number has to change and that is why we haven't approved the project 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 study calls into question whether jatropha is really 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 just how green the jatropha curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would give off in 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 saved in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," 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 countless local individuals of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.
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 after that send the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task."
There are plainly issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy should never be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for conventional medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens just may turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not surprising they are fretted.
Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
