Kenyans fear biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being in the shade of a tree beside 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 income from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is among the many people opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant 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 stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is dangerous. The area impacted is community 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 furniture merchant Ikea. Other companies have actually rented land for the exact same function in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

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

The 27 EU countries have actually registered to a directive which mentions that by 2020, 20% of energy must be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

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

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But campaign groups have identified a few of the jobs in Africa "land grabs" with alarming consequences for the often 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 informed we have to move since 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 states the settlements are over - the federal government has actually okayed for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.

The company says numerous long-term and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anybody will be displaced by the task.

"We want to protect your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

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

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan federal government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It refused the preliminary 50,000-hectare request pointing out issues over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the project.

"We were advising 1,000 hectares ... We have actually informed them to validate if the number has to change which is why we haven't approved the job already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha job to be ditched as brand-new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is actually 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 job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The study by the consultancy group North Energy, external discovered that jatropha curcas 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 stored in the forests' greenery and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.

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

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the forests, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying countless regional people of their livelihoods," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission protected its energy policy as "the most thorough and innovative sustainability scheme for biofuels anywhere in the world".

Unorthodox approaches

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

They were part funded by the European Union - the very organisation which is now accused of pressing policies which residents fear could see the school closed down.

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

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

There are plainly issues on the ground that as soon as 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 add to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource must never ever be at the cost of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

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

If they feel let down by the government and the regional authorities, locals simply might turn to unorthodox methods in a quote to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one objective, then it is extremely simple to eliminate him with our medications," stated Barova Kiribai, a conventional healer, referring to 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 municipal council.

It is not surprising they are stressed.

Kenya's politicians do not have an excellent performance history when it concerns working in the interests of the individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya Jatropha Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea