Difference between revisions of "Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion"

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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 defiant.


"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he informed the BBC.


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


He is among the many individuals opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.


It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with worldwide threatened animal and bird species.


Ambitious goals


An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The area 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 leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually 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 actually set enthusiastic objectives for lowering greenhouse gas and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.


The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to a regulation which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.


Why is Africa impacted?


Because it is hard to find 50,000 hectares of readily available 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 neighborhoods.


Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger in the house is still a truth?"


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


Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the federal government has actually okayed for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final paperwork.


The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.


"We desire to protect your houses and the personal residential or commercial property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


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


How green are biofuels?


According to the Kenyan government's environment guard dog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.


"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number has to change which is why we have not authorized the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).


However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is actually 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 examine simply how green the jatropha curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.


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


This is partially since big amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.


"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies because they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.


"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local people of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.


In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most detailed and innovative sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".


Unorthodox methods


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


They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.


"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to construct a class and after that send out the students away," said 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 business.


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


"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource need to never be at the expense of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.


The forests are likewise a rich source of material for traditional medication.


If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, citizens just may turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.


"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.


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 good track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of the people.


ActionAid


Kenya Jatropha Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea