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

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


He is one of the lots of 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 an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as internationally threatened animal and bird species.


Ambitious goals


An Italian company has asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become bio-diesel.


This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being held 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 practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.


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


The 27 EU nations have registered to a regulation which states 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 instance, the UK or Italy.


Why 'feed' an automobile?


But project groups have actually labelled some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.


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


"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move since they desire 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 payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.


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


The business says hundreds of permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.


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


"We are helping 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 guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.


"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number has to change and that is why we haven't approved the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).


However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as brand-new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is actually a 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 curcas task in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.


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


This is partly due to the fact that big amounts of carbon are stored in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.


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


"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless regional individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.


In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".


Unorthodox methods


At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been constructed.


They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.


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


"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not great. You need to have a home before you go to your job."


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


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 nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must 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 product for traditional medicine.


If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, residents just might turn to unorthodox approaches in a quote to keep the land.


"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is very easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.


The fate of individuals here is 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 great performance history when it comes to working in the interests of the people.


ActionAid


Kenya jatropha curcas Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea