Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting 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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is extremely important 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 production of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become 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 dangerous. The location affected is community land which is being held 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 almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This expansion has been stimulated by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have signed up to a directive which states that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is tough to discover 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have labelled some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when cravings at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we need to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has given the green light for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documents.

The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal tasks will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to protect the homes and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting these people. They are extremely 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 actually not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify 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 require the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to examine just how green the jatropha job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would discharge between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partially due to the fact that big amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.

"The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of local people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni main 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 could see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to construct a class and after that send the students away," stated 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 clearly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource must never be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for conventional medicine.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, residents just may turn to unorthodox approaches in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's municipal council.

It is not unexpected they are worried.

Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea