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 bold.

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

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

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

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with worldwide threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has 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, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats remain well away as it is harmful. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

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

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

This expansion has actually been stimulated by the Union, which has set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to an instruction which specifies that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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 identified some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the frequently voiceless African communities.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when hunger at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we need 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 actually 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 okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documents.

The company says hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal tasks will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.

"We want to protect your homes and the personal property. We will farm around the houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are assisting 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 guard dog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare demand citing concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we have not authorized the task up to now," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha task to be ditched as new research calls into question whether jatropha is really 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 examine just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would discharge between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partly since large quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' plants and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plant life.

"The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of regional people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

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

Unorthodox approaches

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 very organisation which is now implicated of pressing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to develop a class and then send the students 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 plainly concerns on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

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

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy should never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, citizens simply may turn to unorthodox techniques in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is extremely easy to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not unexpected they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have a great track record when it concerns operating in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea