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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 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 really important to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is one of the lots of people 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 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for authorization to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 keep out animals – goats stay well away as it is poisonous. 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 rented almost a million hectares in Africa; jatropha curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have leased land for the same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

This expansion has been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set enthusiastic objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing its reliance on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have actually signed up to a regulation 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 readily available land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why ‘feed’ a vehicle?

But campaign groups have actually identified some of the jobs in Africa “land grabs” with dire consequences for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when appetite in the house 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 desire to plant jatropha here,” stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mother of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd states the negotiations are over – the federal government has okayed for a pilot project to begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the final documents.

The company states numerous permanent and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it rejects that anyone will be displaced by the task.

“We wish to protect your houses and the private residential or commercial property. We will farm around your houses,” Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

“We are assisting these people. They are very delighted for this job. No-one will be moved.”

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government’s environment watchdog, the offer has actually not yet been sealed. It turned down the preliminary 50,000 citing issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the job.

“We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have actually informed them to validate if the number needs to change which is why we haven’t authorized the task up to now,” stated Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as brand-new research study casts doubt on whether jatropha curcas is truly 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 examine just how green the jatropha job in Kenya’s Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partially due to the fact that large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands’ plants and soil but the plantation would indicate clearing the land of this greenery.

“The report reveals that EU policies are absurd policies since they are not lowering greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is announcing,” stated ActionAid’s Chris Coxon.

“The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the internationally threatened Clarke’s Weaver bird to termination and denying countless local individuals of their incomes,” stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as “the most comprehensive and advanced sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world”.

Unorthodox methods

At the remote Mulunguni main school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, numerous brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have actually simply been developed.

They were part funded by the European Union – the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

“My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is not excellent to construct a class and after that send the students away,” said 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 clearly issues on the ground that once the lease is signed, the population will be at the grace of a profit-driven business.

Ikea states 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 nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource need to never be at the expense of people or the environment,” Ikea informed the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are likewise a rich source of material for standard medicine.

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

“If all the seniors come together for one goal, then it is extremely easy to eliminate him with our medicines,” said Barova Kiribai, a traditional therapist, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of the individuals here remains in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi’s community council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya’s political leaders do not have an excellent performance history when it pertains to working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea

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