Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree beside his thatched mud hut in in Kenya’s Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

“We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

“Land is extremely essential to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is among the lots of people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for 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, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals – goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually leased land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

The 27 EU nations have signed up to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why ‘feed’ a cars and truck?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the projects in Africa “land grabs” with alarming consequences for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when appetite in the house is still a reality?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we need to move since they wish to plant jatropha here,” said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

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

The company states numerous irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.

“We wish to safeguard the houses and the personal home. We will farm around your houses,” Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

“We are helping these people. They are extremely delighted for this job. No-one will be moved.”

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government’s environment guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It rejected the preliminary 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 validate if the number has to change and that is why we haven’t authorized the job already,” said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be scrapped as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha is really 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 curcas project in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would release in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly since big quantities of carbon are saved in the forests’ greenery and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.

“The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies since they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming,” stated ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and denying countless regional individuals of their incomes,” 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 anywhere in the world”.

Unorthodox methods

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

They were part moneyed by the European Union – the really organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.

“My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to construct a class and after that send the pupils away,” said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

“Yes we need 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 once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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

“This switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy should never ever be at the expense of individuals 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 government and the regional authorities, homeowners just might turn to unconventional techniques in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medications,” stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not surprising they are stressed.

Kenya’s politicians do not have a good performance history when it comes to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea