Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion

Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth


23 March 2011


By Will Ross


BBC News, Dakatcha


Sitting in the shade of a tree next to his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi is bold.


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


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


He is among the numerous individuals opposed to the creation of a big 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 individuals along with globally 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, 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 keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The location affected is community 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 rented practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being supplied to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other business have actually leased land for the very same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.


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


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


Why is Africa impacted?


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


Why 'feed' an automobile?


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


Some ask: "Why 'feed' a cars and truck in Europe when hunger in your home is still a reality?"


"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 here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of compensation for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.


Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the federal government has okayed for a pilot job to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting on now is the final documentation.


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


"We wish to protect your houses and the private home. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.


"We are helping these individuals. They are really 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 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 suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have informed them to justify if the number has to change and that 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 task to be ditched as new research study calls into question whether jatropha is really 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 simply 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 would discharge in between 2.5 and six times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.


This is partially because big quantities of carbon are kept in the woodlands' plant life and soil however the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this plant life.


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


"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless regional people of their livelihoods," stated 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 techniques


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


They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.


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


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


There are plainly 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 states it will not source jatropha curcas 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 expenditure of individuals or the environment," Ikea informed the BBC in a statement.


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


If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, residents simply might turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.


"If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is very simple to eliminate him with our medications," said Barova Kiribai, a standard therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.


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


It is not surprising they are fretted.


Kenya's political leaders do not have a great track record when it comes to operating in the interests of the individuals.


ActionAid


Kenya jatropha curcas Energy


RSPB


Nema


Ikea