Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 suggests 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 location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally 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, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The area impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has leased nearly 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 exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This expansion has been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have signed up to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But campaign groups have actually labelled some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in the house is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has provided the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.
The company says numerous long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We desire to secure your houses and the private home. We will farm around the 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 job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the project up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for 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 project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would emit in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partly because large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' greenery and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.
"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of regional individuals of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have simply been developed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to develop a classroom and then send the students 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 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 company.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource must never ever be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are likewise a rich source of product for traditional medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals simply may turn to unorthodox approaches in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional 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 surprising they are worried.
Kenya's politicians do not have a good track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
