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 implies shedding blood," he told the BBC.
"Land is extremely crucial to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the lots of individuals opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.
It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become 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 harmful. The location affected is community land which is being kept in trust by the local council.
Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.
It has rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings seller 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 ambitious objectives for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have registered to a regulation which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to 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 instance, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a car?
But campaign groups have identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when cravings in your home is still a truth?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been informed we need to move since they want to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included 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 okayed for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documents.
The company states hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.
"We wish to protect your houses 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 extremely delighted for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the deal has not yet been sealed. It turned down the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.
"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number needs to change which is why we haven't authorized the project up to now," stated 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 curcas is truly 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas would emit in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially due to the fact that big amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' vegetation and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plants.
"The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies because they are not reducing 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 termination and denying thousands of regional individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most thorough and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new class and pit latrines have actually simply been built.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.
"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is bad to build a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your job."
There are clearly concerns on the ground that when 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 till it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural environments.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never ever be at the expense of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are also an abundant source of product for conventional medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just may turn to unorthodox techniques in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.
The fate of individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not unexpected they are fretted.
Kenya's political leaders do not have an excellent track record when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya Jatropha Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea