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 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 livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the numerous people opposed to the development of a large 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 as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian business has asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.
This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The location impacted is 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 rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This expansion has been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is difficult to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But project groups have labelled some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the often voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when hunger at home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we need to move due to the fact that they wish to plant jatropha curcas 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 negotiations are over - the federal government has actually provided the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documentation.
The business says numerous permanent and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.
"We desire to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are assisting these individuals. They are really pleased for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It refused the initial 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we have not authorized the project up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be ditched as brand-new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is truly 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 discovered that jatropha would discharge between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly due to the fact that large quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies since 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 termination and depriving countless regional people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most detailed and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been built.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not good to construct a class and after that send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not good. You need to have a home before you go to your job."
There are clearly issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven company.
Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The forests are also an abundant source of material for traditional medication.
If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents simply may turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is really simple to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of the people here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's local council.
It is not surprising they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent performance history when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
