Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting 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 means shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

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

He is among the lots of people opposed to the production of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has asked the authorities for approval to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals – goats remain well away as it is toxic. 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 oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why ‘feed’ an automobile?

But project groups have identified some of the tasks in Africa “land grabs” with dire consequences for the frequently voiceless African communities.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ a vehicle in Europe when cravings in the house is still a reality?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha here,” stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added 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 actually okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.

The company says hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.

“We desire to safeguard 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 assisting these individuals. They are really happy for this project. No-one will be moved.”

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government’s environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

“We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to change which is why we have not authorized the job up to now,” stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be ditched as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha is really 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 curcas job in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would release in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are kept in the forests’ plant life and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.

“The report reveals that EU policies are foolish policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” said ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of regional people of their livelihoods,” said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as “the most extensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world”.

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new classrooms and pit latrines have simply been constructed.

They were part moneyed by the European Union – the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

“My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not great to build a class and then send the students away,” said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

“Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task.”

There are plainly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.

“This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource need to never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment,” Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.

If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, residents simply might turn to in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is really simple to remove him with our medications,” said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi’s local council.

It is not unexpected they are worried.

Kenya’s politicians do not have a great track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea