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 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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.


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


He is among the numerous people opposed to the production of a large 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 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird species.


Ambitious objectives


An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich 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 remain well away as it is poisonous. The area affected is community land which is being kept in trust by the local council.


Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.


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


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


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


Why is Africa affected?


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


Why 'feed' a car?


But campaign groups have labelled some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the often communities.


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


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


Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has provided the green light for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last paperwork.


The business states hundreds of long-term and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.


"We wish to protect the houses and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


"We are helping these individuals. They are really happy for this job. No-one will be moved."


How green are biofuels?


According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the job.


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


However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as new research calls into question whether jatropha 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 job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.


The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would produce between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.


This is partially since big quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this vegetation.


"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies due to the fact that they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.


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


In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most detailed and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".


Unorthodox techniques


At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been developed.


They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.


"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to construct a classroom and after that send the pupils 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 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 says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.


"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy need to never ever be at the cost of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.


The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of product for traditional medication.


If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners just may turn to unconventional techniques in a bid to keep the land.


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


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


It is not unexpected they are fretted.


Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it comes to working in the interests of the people.


ActionAid


Kenya Jatropha Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea