Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion
Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth
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 lots of 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 an arid area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious goals
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 turned 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 harmful. The area impacted is community 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This expansion has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa affected?
Because it is tough to discover 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But campaign groups have identified some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire consequences for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when cravings in your home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had been no deal of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over - the federal government has actually given the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.
The company states hundreds of permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.
"We want to secure your homes and the personal property. We will farm around your homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really pleased 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 denied the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number needs to change and that 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 job to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would give off between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially since big amounts of carbon are stored in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.
"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," stated ActionAid's Chris Coxon.
"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving countless local people of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most extensive 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 brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have just been built.
They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.
"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to construct a class and then send out the students away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. 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 mercy 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 environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The forests are likewise an abundant source of product for standard medication.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's local council.
It is not unexpected they are stressed.
Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea