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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 implies shedding blood," he told the BBC.


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


He is among the many individuals 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 a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to globally threatened animal and bird types.


Ambitious objectives


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


This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is community 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 rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have leased land for the very same purpose 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 decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.


The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.


Why is Africa affected?


Because it is difficult to find 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.


Why 'feed' an automobile?


But campaign groups have actually labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.


Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when cravings in your home is still a reality?"


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


Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the federal government has the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documents.


The business states numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the job.


"We wish to safeguard your 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 rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.


"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to validate if the number has to alter which is why we have not approved the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).


However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 jatropha job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.


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


This is partially because big amounts of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.


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


"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving countless regional 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 scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".


Unorthodox methods


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


They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.


"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a classroom and then send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.


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


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


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


"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource should never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.


The forests are likewise a rich source of product for standard medication.


If they feel pull down by the federal government and the regional authorities, citizens simply may turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.


"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.


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


ActionAid


Kenya Jatropha Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea