GitLab

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 defiant.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is one of the numerous people opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside 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 objectives

An Italian company has 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 stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is poisonous. The location 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 rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

This growth has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set ambitious objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.

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

Why is Africa impacted?

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 campaign groups have labelled a few of the tasks in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the typically voiceless African communities.

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

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the federal government has actually okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documentation.

The business states numerous permanent and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.

"We want to secure your houses 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 assisting these people. They are really delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare request citing concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we haven't approved the task already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be ditched as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas 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 just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partially due to the fact that large amounts of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would indicate 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 globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving thousands of local individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have just been built.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to develop a class and after that send out the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not great. 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 grace of a profit-driven business.

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 must never ever be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of product for standard medicine.

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals simply might turn to unconventional methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is very simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have a great performance history when it pertains to operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea