Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 suggests shedding blood,” he told the BBC.

“Land is extremely crucial to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is among the many people opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for permission to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals – goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The area impacted is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional 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 oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other business 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 set enthusiastic goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU nations have signed up to a regulation which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is challenging 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 actually identified a few of the jobs in Africa “land grabs” with alarming consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ a vehicle in Europe when cravings in the house is still a reality?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move because they want to plant jatropha 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 says the settlements are over – the federal government has actually okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documents.

The company states numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.

“We desire to safeguard your homes and the personal property. We will farm around the homes,” Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

“We are assisting these people. 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 turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

“We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to change which 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 scrapped as new research casts doubt on 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 task in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would produce between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are kept in the and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

“The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming,” stated ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local people of their incomes,” said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as “the most extensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world”.

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.

They were part funded by the European Union – the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.

“My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not great to construct a class and after that send out the pupils away,” stated 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 clearly concerns on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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 expense of individuals or the environment,” Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

The forests are also an abundant source of product for standard medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens just might turn to unorthodox techniques in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications,” stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of the individuals 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 a good track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea