Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
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 bold.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is really crucial to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among the lots of people opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.
This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. The location impacted is community land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.
Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has actually rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.
This growth has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have signed up to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is hard to find 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But project groups have labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger in your home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the federal government has okayed for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documents.
The company says numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the job.
"We wish to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are extremely delighted for this project. 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 request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number needs to alter and that is why we have not approved 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 ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas 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 simply how green the jatropha curcas job 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 nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially because big quantities of carbon are stored in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plants.
"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless local people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new class and pit latrines have simply been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to build a class and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require 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 grace of a profit-driven business.
Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy must never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are also a rich source of product for conventional medication.
If they feel pull down by the government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of the individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a good performance history when it concerns working in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
