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 Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.
“We are not going to let this land go even if it indicates shedding blood,” he told the BBC.
“Land is extremely important to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead.”
He is among the many individuals opposed to the production 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 globally threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has asked the authorities for approval to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, 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 remain well away as it is dangerous. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional 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 supplied to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other business have actually rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.
This growth has actually been stimulated by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering its reliance on imported oil.
The 27 EU nations have actually signed up to a regulation which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy need to be from sustainable sources, external.
Why is Africa impacted?
Because it is difficult 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 campaign groups have labelled some of the tasks in Africa “land grabs” with dire effects for the frequently voiceless African neighborhoods.
Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when hunger at home is still a reality?”
“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been informed we have to move because they wish 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 states the settlements are over – the federal government has actually provided the green light for a pilot job to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the final documents.
The business states hundreds of irreversible and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the project.
“We desire to protect your homes and the private home. We will farm around the homes,” Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.
“We are helping these people. They are really pleased for this task. No-one will be moved.”
How green are biofuels?
According to the Kenyan government’s environment watchdog, the deal has actually not yet been sealed. It refused the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.
“We were advising 1,000 hectares … We have actually informed them to justify if the number has to alter which is why we haven’t approved the project up to now,” stated 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 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 investigate simply how green the jatropha project in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.
The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would emit between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.
This is partially because large amounts of carbon are saved in the forests’ vegetation and soil however the plantation would mean clearing the land of this plants.
“The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies since they are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” said ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.
“The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the worldwide threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and depriving countless local individuals of their livelihoods,” stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.
In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as “the most thorough and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world”.
Unorthodox techniques
At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new class and pit latrines have simply been constructed.
They were part funded by the European Union – the very organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which locals fear could see the school closed down.
“My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to develop a classroom and after that send out the students away,” stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.
“Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your task.”
There are plainly issues on the ground that when the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven company.
Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not contribute to the conversion of natural habitats.
“This switch from fossil fuels to renewable resource need to never be at the cost of people or the environment,” Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.
The woodlands are likewise a rich source of product for traditional medicine.
If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, locals just might turn to unconventional techniques in a quote to keep the land.
“If all the elders come together for one objective, then it is very simple to remove him with our medicines,” said Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels business.
The fate of the people here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi’s local council.
It is not unexpected they are worried.
Kenya’s politicians do not have a great performance history when it comes to operating in the interests of individuals.
ActionAid
Kenya jatropha curcas Energy
RSPB
Nema
Ikea
