Poster: Large scale agrofuels projects in the Tana Delta, Kenya: an assessment of their purported...
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Large scale agrofuels projects in the Tana Delta, Kenya: an assessment of their purported climate benefits and their impact on ecosystem service delivery for the local population Laura Mukhwana, IDRC & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Olivier Hamerlynck, KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Quentin Luke, NMK & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Stéphanie Duvail, IRD, UMR 208 PALOC & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Dorothy Wanja Nyingi, NMK & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Large scale agro-fuel production of Jatropha was claimed to be climate-friendly... Impacts on local livelihoods would have been detrimental ...but the project’s carbon release through deforestation is high Over the past decade, the Tana River Delta has attracted a lot foreign investors aiming to start large-scale development projects for agro-fuel production. Most of these projects have failed either to commence or to thrive. From 2010, Bedford Biofuels, a Canadian company acquired 131,000 ha of land on the terraces surrounding the delta for a vast Jatropha curcas plantation, 64,000 ha of which would have been cleared of its vegetation. After protests from civil society the pilot project was restricted to the clearing of 10,000 ha. The rationale behind the investment was that the delta lands are unproductive and could be used to produce cheap and climate- friendly agro-fuels. Carbon stocks were assessed in the Somali- Masai Acacia Commiphora bushland. The pilot project was situated in the southern block and would have released an estimated 170,000 Mg of Carbon. The full-scale project 945,000 MgC, valued at about 6.5 M$US at world market price but 35 M$US would be the true cost of release. The company proposed 95,000 $US per year in compensation to the users (after 4 years). The terraces provide multiple ecosystem services to local users, especially to livestock -keepers as wet-season pasture and as a holding area waiting for the dry-season pasture in the delta to be exposed. It is also a source of edible fruits, traditional medicine and wood for construction and energy. It hosts a number of threatened species such as lion and elephant migrating between Tsavo and the Delta. It is clear who would have been the losers. Mukhwana, L.V., Luke, Q., Delmas, E., Otoi, K., Hamerlynck, O., Vandepitte, L. & Adkins, B. subm. Ecosystem services and carbon stocks of the terraces of the Lower Tana River Floodplains and Delta, Kenya. African Journal of Aquatic Sciences. Duvail S., Médard C., Hamerlynck O., Nyingi D.W. 2012. Land and water ‘grabbing’ in an East African coastal wetland: the Tana Delta case study. Water Alternatives 5(2): 322-343
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Transcript of Poster: Large scale agrofuels projects in the Tana Delta, Kenya: an assessment of their purported...
Large scale agrofuels projects in the Tana Delta, Kenya: an assessment of their purported climate benefits
and their impact on ecosystem service delivery for the local population
Laura Mukhwana, IDRC & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Olivier Hamerlynck, KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Quentin Luke, NMK & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Stéphanie Duvail, IRD, UMR 208 PALOC & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] Dorothy Wanja Nyingi, NMK & KENWEB, Nairobi, Kenya [email protected]
Large scale agro-fuel production of Jatropha was claimed to be climate-friendly...
Impacts on local livelihoods would have been detrimental
...but the project’s carbon release through deforestation is high
Over the past decade, the Tana River Delta has attracted a lot foreign investors aiming to start large-scale development projects for agro-fuel production. Most of these projects have failed either to commence or to thrive. From 2010, Bedford Biofuels, a Canadian company acquired 131,000 ha of land on the terraces surrounding the delta for a vast Jatropha curcas plantation, 64,000 ha of which would have been cleared of its vegetation. After protests from civil society the pilot project was restricted to the clearing of 10,000 ha. The rationale behind the investment was that the delta lands are unproductive and could be used to produce cheap and climate-friendly agro-fuels.
Carbon stocks were assessed in the Somali-Masai Acacia Commiphora bushland. The pilot project was situated in the southern block and would have released an estimated 170,000 Mg of Carbon. The full-scale project 945,000 MgC, valued at about 6.5 M$US at world market price but 35 M$US would be the true cost of release. The company proposed 95,000 $US per year in compensation to the users (after 4 years).
The terraces provide multiple ecosystem services to local users, especially to livestock-keepers as wet-season pasture and as a holding area waiting for the dry-season pasture in the delta to be exposed. It is also a source of edible fruits, traditional medicine and wood for construction and energy. It hosts a number of threatened species such as lion and elephant migrating between Tsavo and the Delta. It is clear who would have been the losers.
Mukhwana, L.V., Luke, Q., Delmas, E., Otoi, K., Hamerlynck, O., Vandepitte, L. & Adkins, B. subm. Ecosystem services and carbon stocks of the terraces of the Lower Tana River Floodplains and Delta, Kenya. African Journal of Aquatic Sciences.
Duvail S., Médard C., Hamerlynck O., Nyingi D.W. 2012. Land and water ‘grabbing’ in an East African coastal wetland: the Tana Delta case study. Water Alternatives 5(2): 322-343
