Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion
Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
23 March 2011
By Will Ross
BBC News, Dakatcha
Sitting 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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is very important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is among the numerous individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to worldwide threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for authorization 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 stay well away as it is dangerous. The area affected is neighborhood 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 actually rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other business have leased land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.
This growth has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set ambitious objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is hard to find 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' an automobile?
But project groups have actually identified some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when hunger in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move because they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.
The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the job.
"We want to protect your 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 assisting these individuals. They are very happy for this job. 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 declined the preliminary 50,000-hectare request citing issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number needs to change which is why we haven't approved the project 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 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 examine simply how green the jatropha task in Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would emit in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly due to the fact that large amounts of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plants and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," 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 countless local individuals of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox approaches
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have simply been built.
They were part funded by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school closed down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not great to develop a classroom and after that send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
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 states it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya up 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 expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.
The woodlands are also a rich source of product for standard medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, locals simply might turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's community council.
It is not unexpected they are fretted.
Kenya's politicians do not have a good performance history when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea