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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 next to 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 indicates shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

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

He is among the lots of individuals opposed to the development 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 along with worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for permission to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become 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 toxic. The area impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

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

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

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

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why ‘feed’ a vehicle?

But project groups have actually labelled some of the jobs in Africa “land grabs” with dire effects for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: “Why ‘feed’ an automobile in Europe when appetite in the house is still a truth?”

“Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we need to move since they desire to plant jatropha curcas here,” said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no offer of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over – the federal government has actually given the green light for a pilot project to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documents.

The business says numerous irreversible and countless seasonal jobs will be created and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the task.

“We want to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around the homes,” Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano told the BBC from Milan.

“We are assisting these people. They are extremely 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 rejected the initial 50,000-hectare demand pointing out issues over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

“We were recommending 1,000 hectares … We have actually told them to validate if the number has to change which is why we haven’t authorized the job 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 curcas is really 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 just how green the jatropha task in Kenya’s Dakatcha woodlands would be.

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

This is partially since large amounts of carbon are saved in the woodlands’ vegetation and soil however the plantation would imply clearing the land of this plant life.

“The report shows that EU policies are absurd policies due to the fact that they are not minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring,” 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 thousands of local people of their incomes,” said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

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

Unorthodox methods

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 really organisation which is now accused of pushing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.

“My concern is the displacement of the community. It is not good to construct a class and then send the students away,” stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

“Yes we require jobs. But a farm without a home is not excellent. You require to have a home before you go to your task.”

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

Ikea states it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya up 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 ever be at the expense of individuals or the environment,” Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel let down by the federal government and the local authorities, citizens just might turn to unconventional approaches in a bid to keep the land.

“If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is really simple to eliminate him with our medicines,” said 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 federal government and Malindi’s local council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya’s political leaders do not have a great track record when it pertains to working in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea