Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 indicates shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is really important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the lots of people opposed to the production of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 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 Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has actually rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But campaign groups have actually identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when appetite in the house is still a truth?"

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documentation.

The business says numerous long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.

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

"We are assisting these individuals. They are really delighted for this project. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number has to change which is why we haven't authorized the task 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 calls into question whether jatropha curcas is really 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 investigate just how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.

"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

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

In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox techniques

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to develop a class and after that send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task."

There are clearly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy should never ever be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are also an abundant source of product for standard medication.

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, locals just might turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not surprising they are stressed.

Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea