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 told the BBC.

"Land is very essential 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 coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people along with worldwide threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, initially 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 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, in addition to in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

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

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But project groups have labelled a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the typically voiceless African communities.

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

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move due to the fact that they want to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who added that there had actually been no offer of payment for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the settlements are over - the government has actually okayed for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documentation.

The business states numerous permanent and countless seasonal jobs will be developed and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the project.

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

"We are assisting these people. They are very delighted for this task. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It declined the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to validate if the number has to alter and that is why we haven't authorized the task already," stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha task to be ditched as brand-new research calls into question 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 just how green the jatropha curcas project in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha curcas would emit in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to fossil fuels.

This is partially due to the fact that large quantities of carbon are stored in the woodlands' greenery and soil but the plantation would mean clearing the land of this greenery.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and depriving countless local people of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most extensive and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in 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 just been built.

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.

"My worry is the displacement of the community. It is not good to build a class and then send the students away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need jobs. But a farm without a home is not good. You need to have a home before you go to your job."

There are clearly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea says 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 fossil fuels to renewable resource should never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel pull down by the federal government and the local authorities, locals just might turn to unconventional methods in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really easy to eliminate him with our medicines," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

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

It is not surprising they are fretted.

Kenya's politicians do not have a good track record when it comes to working in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea