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 defiant.
"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he informed 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 among the numerous individuals opposed to the production 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 internationally threatened animal and bird types.
Ambitious goals
An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.
This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is harmful. The area affected is neighborhood 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 leased almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings seller Ikea. Other business have rented land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This expansion has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.
The 27 EU countries have actually registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is difficult to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.
Why 'feed' a cars and truck?
But campaign groups have labelled some of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the typically voiceless African communities.
Some ask: "Why 'feed' a vehicle in Europe when appetite in your home is still a reality?"
"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move since they wish to plant jatropha here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.
Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last paperwork.
The business states numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.
"We want to protect the homes and the private property. We will farm around the homes," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
"We are helping these people. They are really pleased for this task. No-one will be moved."
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the preliminary 50,000-hectare request mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the job.
"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to change and that is why we have not authorized the task up to now," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).
However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be scrapped as brand-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 curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha would between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.
This is partly since big amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands' plants and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this vegetation.
"The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies since 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 worldwide threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of regional people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In response, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability plan for biofuels anywhere in the world".
Unorthodox methods
At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several new class and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school shut down.
"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not excellent to construct a class and after that send the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
"Yes we need 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 oil from Kenya until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.
The woodlands are also a rich source of material for standard medicine.
If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, locals just might turn to unorthodox approaches in a bid to keep the land.
"If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's municipal council.
It is not surprising they are stressed.
Kenya's political leaders do not have a good performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of the people.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
