Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
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 bold.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates shedding blood," he informed the BBC.
"Land is very crucial 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 development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.
It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has actually 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 toxic. The area impacted is community 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 actually leased nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This expansion has been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries 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 tough to find 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But project groups have labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the typically voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in the house is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had actually been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the federal government has given the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documentation.
The business says hundreds of permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.
"We wish to secure your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these individuals. They are extremely happy for this project. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It denied the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we haven't authorized the job already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is actually a greener option 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 project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would give off in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly since big amounts of carbon are stored in the forests' vegetation and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plants.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of local people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most extensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have just been built.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to construct a class and after that send out the pupils away," stated 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 plainly concerns on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy must never be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are also a rich source of product for standard medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, residents simply may turn to unconventional techniques in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have a great track record when it concerns working in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
