Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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

He is one of the lots of individuals 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 area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, 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 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

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

Why 'feed' a cars and truck?

But project groups have identified a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we need to move because they wish to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom 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 offered the green light for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documentation.

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

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

"We are helping these individuals. They are extremely happy for this project. 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 denied the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we haven't authorized the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as brand-new research calls into question 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 investigate 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 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly due to the fact that big amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this vegetation.

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

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

In response, the EU its energy policy as "the most thorough and sophisticated sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox methods

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

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

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to develop a class and after that send the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is not good. You need to have a home before you go to your task."

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

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

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

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of material for conventional medication.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens simply might turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very easy to remove him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a great track record when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea