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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

He is one of the numerous people opposed to the production 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 internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has asked the authorities for permission to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich 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 stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The area affected is community land which is being held 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 almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' a vehicle?

But campaign groups have identified some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the frequently voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when hunger at home is still a reality?"

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

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

The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

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

"We are helping these people. They are really pleased for this task. 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 turned down the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we haven't approved the task already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as new research calls into question whether jatropha is actually a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty campaign 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 woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would give off between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partially since big quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of regional people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part moneyed 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 neighborhood. It is bad to develop a class and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

There are plainly 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 oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.

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

The woodlands are also a rich source of material for standard medication.

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

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

The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a good performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea

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