Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 defiant.

“We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates 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 one of the many people opposed to the creation of a large 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 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for permission to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.

This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay 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 leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This expansion has been spurred by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to a regulation which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must 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 car?

But project groups have actually labelled a few of the tasks in Africa “land grabs” with dire effects for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when appetite at home is still a truth?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we have to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha here,” said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over – the federal 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 numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

“We desire to protect your homes and the personal residential or commercial property. We will farm around your houses,” 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 federal government’s environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

“We were advising 1,000 hectares … We have actually informed them to validate if the number has to change which is why we have not authorized the job up to now,” stated 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 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 investigate just how green the jatropha curcas task in Kenya’s Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly because large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests’ plant life and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.

“The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” stated ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless regional people of their incomes,” said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU its energy policy as “the most extensive and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world”.

Unorthodox techniques

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been constructed.

They were part funded by the European Union – the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.

“My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to build a classroom and then send the pupils away,” stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

“Yes we require 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 curcas oil from Kenya until 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 expenditure of people or the environment,” Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, citizens simply might turn to unconventional methods in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines,” said Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not unexpected they are worried.

Kenya’s politicians do not have a great track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea