“People in Isangi wonder why they didn’t get a better share”
DW News journalist Jonas Gerding visits the Blattner family’s Isangi REDD project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Isangi REDD project in the Democratic Republic of Congo was previously part of two logging concessions run since 2004 by Société Africaine de Bois (Safbois). The carbon rights of the logged over forest were transferred to a US-based company called Jadora LLC in 2009.
The REDD project was certified in September 2014 by Verra, the Washington DC-based carbon certification company. The first credits were sold in May 2015.
But it was only in December 2019, that Daniel Blattner, the managing director of both Jadora and Safbois, issued a contract that informed the people living in the project area about the REDD project. Clearly, there was no process of free, prior and informed consent with local communities.
REDD-Monitor recently wrote about the Isangi REDD project, based on investigative reporting by Linda Ngari for Africa Uncensored.
Between May 2015 and February 2021, the Isangi REDD project sold almost 1.4 million carbon credits. Buyers included the consulting firm Roland Berger, the municipality of Davos, shoe company Vivobarefoot Switzerland, and agri-business company Olam.
In January 2024, DRC’s Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development cancelled eight conservation concessions, including the Isangi REDD project.
Pigs in the fishponds
Recently journalist Jonas Gerding travelled to the Isangi project area, reporting for DW News. His report starts with footage of pigs searching for food in what used to be fish ponds built by Jadora for villagers.
André Boena, a community leader tells DW News that,
“They told us that even without exploiting the forest, we could earn a living through fish farming and livestock farming. Look at these fish ponds. They are a complete mess. We’ve got pigs walking around. Is this the way you do projects with people?”
Gerding reports that Jadora built the fish ponds but it didn’t help villagers to find a market to sell the fish. In the end the villagers gave up.
Boena is the head of the parents’ association of the local school. The community had to wait for more than a decade before the school was built. “Just look at the state of the building,” Boena says. “It’s not in good shape. They built it, but it’s still unfinished.”
The school is lacking proper floors, ceilings, and toilets. Jadora promised more schools but they were never completed.
“People in Isangi wonder why they didn’t get a better share”
Gerding visits Jadora’s company compound. The company is owned by Daniel Blattner, who is from a US business family that has operated in the DRC for several decades. Rusting and overgrown logging equipment belonging to Safbois is still in the compound.
“Local communities are supposed to be supported in changing their lives to help preserve the forests and benefit from the profits,” Gerding explains. “People in Isangi wonder why they didn’t get a better share.”
Georges Kanda is a farmer, now growing rice where trees used to grow. He tells DW News that, “The forest was huge. From the main road to this place there were no fields. It was just forest, forest, forest.”
But when the logging company Safbois stopped its logging operations, there were no jobs for the local communities. And the activities that Jadora set up to compensate were simply not enough to stop villagers from clearing land to grow food.
Kanda tells DW News that,
“The idea wasn’t bad. But the problem was that not everyone found work in their company. Look at me, for example. I wasn’t hired. But I wasn’t going to stay there complaining. I had to go back to cutting down trees to survive.”
Isangi REDD project cancelled
The government cancelled the REDD project in 2024 because the of questions about the company’s land titles.
Gerding spoke to Jadora’s local contact person, but he could not answer his questions about why the project was cancelled. Neither could the former manager in Kinshasa. Daniel Blattner did not respond to DW News’ interview request and emails.
Verra told DW News that the first four years of the Isangi REDD project showed a reduction in deforestation. But Verra told DW News that it was not able to verify the last nine years. Verra added that they knew that local communities were disappointed with how the project was going.
Gerding spoke to Gédeon Litete, who earns a living by cutting down trees from the forest and selling the timber. The REDD project meant little to him. Litete tells DW News that,
“If Jadora had provided us with the activities we need to survive, I wouldn’t have cut down the forest. I would have stopped this work and the forest wouldn’t be destroyed. But they haven’t done anything, and that’s why I continue to clear the forest.”
“The green rush goes on”
The Blattners are moving on to their next REDD venture. About 120 kilometres from Isangi, Daniel Blattner’s son Brandon is planning a new project, the the Tshopo Lomami REDD project. “The green rush goes on,” Gerding comments.
Back in 2013, Brandon Blattner left a comment on REDD-Monitor. He wasn’t happy:
If you’re curious about the Blattner family and its operations please try to contact them first before slandering them on your website; the most foolish part about the whole thing is that if you actually did your research you’d learn that the Blattner family is doing more for REDD+ as a legitimate institution than any other entity in the DRC, and that’s a fact.
Blattner invited me to contact him. But he did not reply when I asked him about Groupe Blattner Elwyn’s 2012 purchase of logging company SIFORCO.
That’s perhaps not so surprising. A 2018 report by Earthsight notes that in 2013 one of SIFORCO’s concessions had cut 50% more trees that authorised. That amounts to 26,000 cubic metres of illegal timber.
With no compensation or livelihood protection for the communities, and conflicts of interest regarding illegal farming, this is just an economic game of green capitalism, won by a self-righteous hypocrite.