New paper chronicles how diamonds work for development

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New paper chronicles how diamonds work for development

July 18, 2008

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New York—The Madison Dialogue, a collaborative industry effort that works to promote best practices across the board, has published a new white paper that looks at the efforts being made to use diamonds for sustainable development.

"Making Diamonds Work for Development," by Kirsten Hund, SRK Consulting, was commissioned by Earthworks and Fatal Transactions, two non-governmental organizations, to facilitate the work of mining companies, other NGOs, jewelry retailers and other Madison Dialogue members who are supporting diamond development projects that advance social and environmental objectives.

The paper chronicles both the efforts being made and the challenges faced by those working to make progress on such issues in the wake of the conflict diamonds controversy.

"We are hopeful that 'Making Diamonds Work for Development' will assist communities, NGOs, companies and governments as they seek to produce and/or market so-called 'ethical' diamonds," said Anneke Galama, international coordinator for Amsterdam-based Fatal Transactions, an international network of NGOs that works to promote sustainability across all industries in Africa.

The paper's introduction notes how far the industry has come since the 1990s, when conflict diamonds first started making headlines.

The paper states, "Since then, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme...has been put in place. With the relative success of the fight against conflict diamonds came a new dilemma: If we are able to make progress in stopping diamonds from fueling bloody wars, why do we allow them to sustain poverty and misery among diamond mining, cutting and polishing communities all over the world?"

The paper goes on to note the proliferation of initiatives in recent years to promote sustainability to the communities where diamonds are mined.

The paper also looks at the challenges faced by retailers who want to describe themselves as supporters of "ethical" or "fair trade" diamond initiatives. An index of retailers who do so is listed in the report.

To access the white paper, visit the Madison Dialogue Web site, MadisonDialogue.com.

Those with new or updated information on such efforts can send that information to lcotler@earthworksaction.org.

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