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 implies shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is really 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 individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people along with worldwide threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has asked the authorities for approval to rent 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 long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. 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 actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have registered to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But campaign groups have identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when appetite in the house is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we have to move since they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the government has okayed for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documents.
The company says hundreds of irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to secure your homes and the personal property. We will farm around the homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed 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 government's environment guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number needs to change and that is why we haven't authorized the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be ditched as new research study calls into question whether jatropha is actually a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty campaign group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate just how green the jatropha curcas task 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 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially because large quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plant life.
"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of regional individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new class and pit latrines have just been developed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not great to develop a class and after that send out the pupils away," said 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 task."
There are clearly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.
Ikea says 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 sustainable energy should never ever be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.
The woodlands are also an abundant source of material for traditional medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, homeowners simply may turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it pertains to working in the interests of the people.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
