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 means shedding blood," he told 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 lots of individuals opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into 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 toxic. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

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

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

This growth has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has set enthusiastic goals for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU nations have signed up to an instruction which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy ought to 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 cars and truck?

But campaign groups have actually labelled some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming effects for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added 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 actually okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the last documentation.

The business says hundreds of long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be created and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the project.

"We desire to safeguard your houses 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 helping these people. They are really pleased for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It declined the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to justify if the number needs to alter and that is why we haven't approved the job already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be ditched as new research casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partially since big quantities of carbon are kept in the forests' vegetation and soil but the plantation would imply clearing the land of this vegetation.

"The report reveals that EU policies are silly policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will devastate the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying thousands of regional individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission defended its energy policy as "the most thorough and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new class and pit latrines have just been constructed.

They were part funded by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school closed down.

"My worry is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a classroom and after that send the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need 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 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 until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never ever be at the expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The forests are also a rich source of product for standard medication.

If they feel pull down by the government and the local authorities, locals simply might turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the seniors come together for one objective, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a standard healer, 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 politicians do not have a good track record when it pertains to operating in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea