Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion
Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion
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 defiant.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies 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 one of the numerous individuals opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious goals
An Italian business has asked the authorities for approval to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The area impacted is community land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has actually leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This growth has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have registered to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is difficult 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 actually labelled some of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with alarming repercussions for the frequently voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when hunger at home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move since they desire to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the settlements are over - the government has actually provided the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documents.
The business says hundreds of long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We wish to secure your homes and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these individuals. They are very delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number has to change which is why we have not authorized the job up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is truly a greener option to oil.
The anti-poverty project 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 discovered that jatropha would produce in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially since large amounts of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies because they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of regional individuals of their incomes," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new classrooms and pit latrines have just been constructed.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a classroom and after that send the students 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 issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven company.
Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to sustainable energy must never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.
The forests are also an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.
If they feel let down by the government and the local authorities, citizens simply might turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are stressed.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a great track record when it concerns operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
