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 suggests shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is among the lots of people opposed to the production 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 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, 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 keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the exact same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

This growth has been stimulated by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its reliance on imported oil.

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

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is challenging to find 50,000 hectares of readily 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 jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the frequently voiceless African communities.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we need to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documentation.

The business states numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be produced and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the project.

"We wish to protect the 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 people. They are very pleased for this project. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment guard dog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to validate 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 project to be ditched as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha is actually 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would release in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partially since big quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plants and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plant life.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying thousands of local people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most thorough and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new class and pit latrines have simply been built.

They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not good to build a class and then send the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your task."

There are plainly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya till it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource must never be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are likewise an abundant source of material for traditional medicine.

If they feel pull down by the government and the local authorities, residents simply might turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are worried.

Kenya's political leaders 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