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 suggests shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the numerous people 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 area and home to some 20,000 people along with worldwide threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian business has asked the authorities for authorization to lease 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 actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local 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 curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This growth has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have signed up to an instruction which specifies 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 car?
But project groups have actually identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when cravings in the house is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move since they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has offered the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.
The business says numerous long-term and countless seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We desire to secure your houses and the personal residential or commercial property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are extremely happy for this task. 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 declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to change which is why we have not approved 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 project to be scrapped as brand-new research calls into question 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 examine just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would produce in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partially since big amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most detailed and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new class 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 closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to construct a class and then send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
There are plainly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.
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 should never ever be at the expenditure of people 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 pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents simply might turn to unconventional methods in a quote to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, 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 politicians do not have a good track record when it comes to working in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
