Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Being 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 means shedding blood," he informed the BBC.
"Land is very important to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among the numerous individuals opposed to the production of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The area affected is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has rented practically 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 exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This expansion has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set ambitious objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually registered to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to 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 example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a vehicle?
But project groups have actually identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when hunger in the house is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we have to move because they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documentation.
The company says hundreds of irreversible and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We wish to safeguard the homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these individuals. They are very happy for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we have not approved the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as brand-new research study calls into question whether jatropha is really a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate simply how green the jatropha job 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 six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partially because big quantities of carbon are stored in the forests' vegetation and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving thousands of regional people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.
"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to construct a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
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 up until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable energy should never ever be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The forests are likewise a rich source of material for standard medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens simply might turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's local council.
It is not surprising they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
