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Opened Jan 18, 2025 by Adan Purvis@adanpurvis734
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Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion


Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 bold.

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

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

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

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

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for approval to lease 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 long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local 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 curcas oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furnishings retailer Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, along with in India.

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

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

Why is Africa affected?

Because it is hard to find 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 actually identified some of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with dire repercussions for the often voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' a car in Europe when appetite at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have been told we have to move since they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," stated 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who added that there had been no deal 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 begin with 10,000 hectares and all it is waiting for now is the last documentation.

The company states numerous permanent and countless seasonal tasks will be produced and it denies that anyone will be displaced by the task.

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

"We are assisting these individuals. They are extremely pleased for this task. 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 turned down the initial 50,000-hectare request mentioning concerns over the effect on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were suggesting 1,000 hectares ... We have told them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not 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 job to be ditched as new research 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 examine just how green the jatropha job in Kenya's Dakatcha forests would be.

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

This is partly since large quantities of carbon are saved in the forests' greenery and soil but the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this plant life.

"The report shows that EU policies are silly policies because 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 internationally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to termination and denying countless regional individuals of their livelihoods," stated Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In action, the EU its energy policy as "the most comprehensive and sophisticated sustainability plan 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 just been constructed.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the extremely organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which residents fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the neighborhood. It is bad to construct a classroom and after that send out the pupils away," said the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You require to have a home before you go to your task."

There are clearly issues on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven company.

Ikea says it will not source jatropha curcas oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural habitats.

"This switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy must never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a statement.

The woodlands are likewise an abundant source of product for standard medicine.

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

"If all the elders come together for one goal, then it is very easy to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a traditional healer, referring to the owner of the Italian biofuels business.

The fate of individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan federal government and Malindi's municipal council.

It is not unexpected they are stressed.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a great performance history when it concerns working in the interests of individuals.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea

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Reference: adanpurvis734/mission-newenergy-limited#2