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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the numerous individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 people along with internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned 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 poisonous. The location 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 curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have registered to a directive which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy need 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 cars and truck?

But project groups have labelled some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the often 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 have to move because they want to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no deal of payment 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 task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final paperwork.

The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it that anyone will be displaced by the task.

"We wish to protect your houses and the personal residential or commercial 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 extremely pleased 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 declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were suggesting 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," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly since large amounts of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this vegetation.

"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless local people of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been developed.

They were part moneyed 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 bad to build a class and after that 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 task."

There are plainly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy should never be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for traditional medication.

If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, homeowners simply might turn to unconventional approaches in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medications," stated 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 federal government and Malindi's local council.

It is not unexpected they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it comes to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea