June 2008. The Kenyan government has approved a controversial plan to grow biofuel crops on an internationally important coastal wetland. More than 80 square miles of the Tana River Delta, which provides refuge for 350 species of birds as well as lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles including the Tana writhing skink, will be destroyed and replaced with sugarcane for biofuel, some of which could be sold in the UK where oil firms are being forced to sell more biofuel.
Conservationists and villagers living in the Delta believe the decision is illegal and are determined to block the development. The groups are considering what action they might take.
Serious damage to national asset
Paul Matiku, Executive Director of Nature Kenya said: "This decision is a national disaster and will devastate the Delta. The Tana's ecology will be destroyed yet the economic gains will be pitiful. It will seriously damage our priceless national assets and will put the livelihoods of the people living in the Delta in jeopardy. The 
environmental assessment for the scheme was poor yet the government has defied even those very modest recommendations. We refuse to accept that this decision is final. The development must be stopped at all costs."
The proposal was approved by the Kenyan government's National Environment Management Authority, which put 14 conditions on the sugarcane plan. The conditions are weak and ignore the environmental assessment, which showed that irrigation of crops would cause severe drainage of the Delta.
Ignores local agriculturalists
The decision also overlooks an ongoing dispute over compensation for farmers and fishermen who would lose their land and fishing rights. Paul Matiku said: "This is the only dry-season grazing area for hundreds of miles and its loss will leave many hundreds of farmers with no-where to take their cattle."
Overestimated profits
A report commissioned by Nature Kenya and the RSPB in May found that the developer's plans overestimated profits, ignored fees for water use and pollution from the sugarcane plant, and disregarded the loss of income from wildlife tourists.
Irreversible loss of ecosystem
The study said the Delta's ecological benefits "defied valuation" and that the proposal would cause the "irreversible loss of ecosystem services" - benefits such as flood prevention, the storage of greenhouse gases and the provision of medicines and food.
Vast loss
The Mumias Sugar Company says the income from sugarcane cultivation will be £1.25 million over 20 years but the report showed the revenue from fishing, farming, tourism and other lost livelihoods would be £30 million over the same period.
Paul Buckley, an Africa specialist with the RSPB, said: "This decision is a very serious blow to Kenyan wildlife and to wildlife worldwide since many migrating species use the Tana Delta in internationally important numbers. Until now, Kenya's support for global agreements to protect wildlife has been excellent but this development could severely damage Kenya's reputation for caring for its environment."
Biofuels disaster
The news comes just days before the UK government's review of the impacts of increased demand for biofuels. At least 2.5 per cent of petrol and diesel sold in Britain must already be biofuel and the EU wants to push that figure up to 10 per cent across Europe.
The RSPB is urging British and European politicians to scrap that target because some biofuels are increasing not cutting greenhouse gas emissions and are driving the destruction of rainforest, savannah and wetlands like the Tana Delta.
Dr Mark Avery, Conservation Director at the RSPB, said: "The Tana Delta is one of many precious wildlife sites being put at risk by our reckless determination to use fuels that could hasten not combat climate change. The UK government has a last chance to persuade Europe to re-think its biofuels' plans. If it does not, wildlife will be lost because of policies that will line the pockets of producers but do nothing to cut our greenhouse gas emissions."
In April, the UK government introduced a law forcing oil companies to sell more biofuel. Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, proof that important wildlife habitats have not been destroyed for biofuel manufacture and that fuel production is cutting emissions, is not currently required. The current requirement is 2.5 per cent of petrol and diesel rising to 5 per cent by 2010. The EU wants to double that target by 2020.
The Tana River Primate National Reserve
Tana River Delta
The River Tana is 440 miles long and is Kenya's longest river. It rises in the Aberdare mountain range in central Kenya. The Delta covers 130,000 hectares in total and is one of Kenya's largest and most important freshwater wetlands. It is a vast patchwork of habitats including savannah, forests, beaches, lakes, mangrove swamps and the Tana River itself. Local people live by the seasons, adapting to the regular floods that keep the area fertile through the year. The Delta is 120 miles from Mombasa and a popular tourist attraction for those travelling between Mombasa and Lamu.
The 345 bird species include 22 water bird species present in internationally important numbers. The Delta is designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. It is also one of Kenya's Endemic Bird Areas. It has important mangrove forests where fish and other marine life spawn, and which soak up floodwaters.
The Tana River Delta is designated an Important Bird Area for three reasons:
- It shelters birds that are globally threatened, including the southern banded snake eagle, Malindi pipit and the Tana River cisticola, which is close to extinction. It also harbours the Basra reed warbler, whose breeding grounds in Iraq are under threat.
- It hosts several bird species found only in a small area of East Africa, including rufous chatterer, scaly chatterer, long-tailed fiscal, three-streaked tchagra, golden-breasted starling, Fischer's starling and eastern violet-backed sunbird.
- It contains one of the few, highly important water bird breeding sites in Kenya attracting, more than 5,000 breeding water birds from 13 species. These include the African darter, purple squacco heron and black-crowned night heron, sacred and glossy ibises, and African spoonbill.The Delta will be polluted by farm chemicals, silts and industrial effluents from the sugarcane development, which would lie next to the river.
Fishing
There are thought to be more than 40 fish species in the Tana Delta. Fishermen supply coastal markets but also city outlets in Nairobi. Fishing is an important source of food and employment, which could be seriously affected by development.
Sharks and turtles
Three sharks species seen in the Delta are protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Marine turtles nest on the Delta's 22-mile coastal strip. The fluctuating salinity of the river mouth creates habitats for high numbers of snails and other invertebrates, in turn luring up to 15,000 water birds in a single day.
Agriculture
At least 60,000 cattle graze in the Delta in the dry season, of which 20,000 stay throughout the year. Crops grown in the Delta include rice, maize, mango, cassava, bananas, melons, beans, peas and many other vegetables. Most farmers belong to the Pokomo ethnic group.
The consultants are Dr Caleb Mireri, Dr Joseph Onjala and Dr Nicholas Oguge. The average yearly income from the sugarcane project of £1.25 million, claimed by Mumias, and contrasting £400,000 calculated by the consultants, is the net present value over 20 years used in cost benefit analyses.
