Following an investigation by two NGOs, male employees at a prominent Kenyan carbon-offsetting initiative, utilized by Netflix, Shell, and other major corporations, are facing allegations of widespread sexual abuse and harassment spanning more than a decade.
The Kasigau Corridor conservation project, located in southern Kenya and managed by the California-based company Wildlife Works, produces carbon credits through the preservation of endangered dryland forests within vital elephant, lion, and wildlife habitats to the west of Mombasa.
This initiative was the world’s inaugural forest protection program to gain approval from Verra, the leading certifier of carbon offsets globally. Additionally, it has obtained accreditation for its contributions to biodiversity and community well-being, likely resulting in substantial revenue from carbon credit sales, potentially amounting to millions of dollars.
A recent report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (Somo), a Dutch non-governmental organization, claims significant instances of sexual abuse, harassment, and exploitation carried out by senior male staff members of Wildlife Works from 2011 to 2023. These allegations are based on testimonies provided by 31 current and former employees, both male and female, as well as members of the local community.
In a statement issued on Friday, which was subsequently updated on Sunday, Mike Korchinsky, the President of Wildlife Works, disclosed that, following the company’s awareness of the allegations in August, it took action by suspending three individuals. An internal investigation, conducted by a Kenyan law firm, unveiled evidence suggesting that two of the individuals had been involved in “profoundly inappropriate and harmful conduct,” as stated by Korchinsky.
Korchinsky offered an apology for the “pain that had been caused” but contested the idea that the issue was prevalent. He clarified that the confirmed instances of sexual harassment misconduct were attributed to one individual and noted that certain allegations had not been verified.
Wildlife Works announced that it was in the concluding phases of the disciplinary proceedings and pledged to provide further details once the process was complete. Additionally, on Friday, Verra confirmed that it had initiated an investigation into the project.
The report, which relies on interviews conducted by NGO staff specially trained in addressing gender-based violence, contains claims of physical assault and an attempted rape that occurred on the company’s premises.
According to the report, senior male individuals leveraged their positions to request sexual favors in exchange for promotions and improved treatment. Furthermore, the report alleges that a senior staff member pursued the wives of male rangers, asserting that their husbands’ employment hinged on engaging in sexual activity with him.
In a letter dated August, which was addressed to Wildlife Works and viewed by The Guardian, Somo and the KHRC made claims of widespread sexual abuse within the project involving multiple staff members. Although they only identified one specific alleged perpetrator, they asserted that the problem was pervasive.
The Kasigau Corridor conservation project has been promoted for its role in advancing women’s empowerment in the region, a statement that has been reiterated by some companies that have purchased credits, including Netflix. One promotional video by Netflix highlights the project, emphasizing that “empowering women” is a fundamental aspect of the initiative. Data from AlliedOffsets reveals that Shell has acquired almost 2 million credits from the program, while Netflix has obtained a quarter of a million. Numerous other major corporations have utilized credits from the project to fulfill their climate and biodiversity commitments.
Audrey Gaughran, the Executive Director of Somo, indicated that, through interviews with affected women, it became evident that the allegations were widely recognized among the workforce. She explained, “We received accounts from women, who were current and past employees of Wildlife Works, who were sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, physically assaulted in sexual ways,” she said. “Sexualised slurs were shouted at women.”
“Perpetrators could act with relative impunity because they were senior males and nobody seemed to be able to touch them. One perpetrator in particular, the most named, goes to the wives of rangers once the rangers are stationed out on the property. The implication is: ‘Your husband has a job because of me. Do you want him to keep his job?’ That was very difficult for some of the men to talk about,” she said.
These allegations emerge at a time when there are significant concerns about the environmental legitimacy of numerous forest protection offset initiatives. In the current year, a collaborative investigation by The Guardian unveiled a substantial number of credits that were deemed to be “largely worthless” and identified evidence of coerced land clearances at a prominent project in Peru. These findings were met with disagreement by Verra.
Verra is anticipated to unveil its updated guidelines for generating carbon credits prior to the start of the Cop28 climate change conference in Dubai, scheduled for later this month.
