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 important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is one of the many people opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

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

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become .

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 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 actually leased nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings merchant Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This expansion has 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 registered to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is tough to find 50,000 hectares of readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for instance, the UK or Italy.

Why ‘feed’ a vehicle?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the tasks in Africa “land grabs” with dire repercussions for the typically voiceless African communities.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ a vehicle in Europe when cravings in the house is still a reality?”

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

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over – the government has actually offered the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documentation.

The company states numerous long-term and countless seasonal jobs will be produced and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

“We wish to safeguard your homes and the private 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 very pleased for this job. No-one will be moved.”

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government’s environment guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It rejected the initial 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

“We were suggesting 1,000 hectares … We have actually told them to validate if the number needs to alter which is why we have not authorized the task already,” 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 calls into question whether jatropha is actually a greener alternative to oil.

The anti-poverty campaign group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would give off between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partly since large amounts of carbon are stored in the forests’ plant life and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plants.

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

“The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of regional individuals of their livelihoods,” stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as “the most comprehensive 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 class and pit latrines have actually simply been constructed.

They were part moneyed by the European Union – the really organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.

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

“Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your job.”

There are clearly concerns on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya up 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 must never ever be at the cost of individuals or the environment,” Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

The forests are likewise a rich source of material for conventional medication.

If they feel pull down by the government and the regional authorities, citizens simply might turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.

“If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medicines,” said Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

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

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea