Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
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 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 people opposed to the development of a big 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 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be developed into 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 toxic. The location impacted is neighborhood 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 leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This expansion has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to a regulation which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is challenging to discover 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But project groups have labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when appetite in your home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move since they want to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has offered the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.
The business says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to protect the homes and the private residential or commercial property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really delighted for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the task up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research casts doubt on 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 examine just how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would give off in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly because large quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.
"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying countless local individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have just been built.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to build a class and then send the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You need 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 states it will not source jatropha 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 need to never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The forests are likewise a rich source of product for traditional medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents simply might turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community 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 the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
