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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 next to 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 one of the lots of people opposed to the creation of a big 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 in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become 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 harmful. 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 rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which specifies 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 readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' a car?

But project groups have actually labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when cravings in your home is still a truth?"

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

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

The business states hundreds of long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

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

"We are assisting these individuals. They are really pleased for this task. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number has to change and that is why we have not authorized the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be ditched as brand-new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is truly a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to examine just how green the in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partly because large quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plant life and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.

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

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

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

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of brand-new class and pit latrines have just been developed.

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

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not great to build a class and then send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

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

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 states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.

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

The woodlands are also a rich source of product for traditional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, homeowners just might turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is really easy to remove him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

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

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea