Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

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 means shedding blood,» he informed the BBC.

«Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead.»

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

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

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be developed into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals – goats remain well away as it is harmful. The area impacted is neighborhood 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 rented nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business 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 lowering greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU nations have registered to an instruction which states that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why ‘feed’ a cars and truck?

But project groups have labelled a few of the tasks in Africa «land grabs» with alarming effects for the typically 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 have to move because they wish to plant jatropha here,» said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over – the federal government has offered the green light for a pilot task to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final paperwork.

The business states numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal tasks will be developed and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the project.

«We desire to secure the homes and the personal property. We will farm around the homes,» Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

«We are assisting 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 guard dog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It turned down the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

«We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have informed them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we haven’t authorized the project already,» said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh require the Dakatcha project to be scrapped as new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha is really a greener alternative 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 job in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would produce in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partly due to the fact that big quantities of carbon are saved in the woodlands’ plant life and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.

«The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is proclaiming,» said ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

«The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to extinction and depriving thousands of local individuals of their incomes,» stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as «the most comprehensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels throughout the world».

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, a number of new classrooms and pit latrines have just been built.

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

«My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to build a class and after that 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 issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

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

«This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must never ever be at the cost of people or the environment,» Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of product for conventional medication.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, residents just may turn to unorthodox techniques in a bid to keep the land.

«If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very easy to remove him with our medications,» said Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

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

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya’s politicians do not have a good track record when it pertains to working in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea