Death and Destruction Takes the Sparkle Out of the Diamond Trade

YOUR STATEMENT OF EVERLASTING LOVE FINANCES CIVIL WAR AND GENOCIDE

The schmaltzy ads tell you only a diamond can truly express a man's everlasting love for a woman, and clearly that a real man will spend two month's salary on an engagement ring if he is worth his salt. Aside from the sociological holes in that concept (it insults both genders), here's some information about the diamond business we bet you didn't know.

The obsession with diamonds as a middle class sexual artifact is only about 70 years old. This bizarre humammal behavior is primarily limited to the U.S. and Japan.
In Africa in particular, diamonds finance the war and genocide that has wracked the central continent for 30 years. There is evidence that al-Qaeda uses diamonds to finance their activities and for money-laundering purposes.
The "scarcity" of diamonds is artificially manipulated
As for the lasting value of diamonds, try selling yours.
In Botswana, Bushmen have been evicted from their lands in favor of diamond mining interests
Diamonds currently fund conflict in Cote d’Ivoire and in the eastern DRC and continue to be used by al-Qaeda to finance terror.
Over half of the world's diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers.
Diamond mining is extremely destructive to the environment
Diamond mining is extremely destructive to diamond miners

EDITORIAL COMMENTS: One response to criticism of extractive industries such as mining, oil drilling and logging is that these are necessary evils in an industrial society. But what exactly is necessary about diamond jewelry? Scratch the surface of a humammal, and you quickly get to the monkey underneath - the monkey who likes shiny and sparkly things.

DEATH IN CONGO AND ANGOLA

The term "conflict diamond" or "blood diamond" originated with the horrific troubles in central Africa. Hundreds of thousands have died

Ilegal diamond mining finances the wars in Congo and Angola. Most of the diamond mining in the DROC takes place in the eastern part of the country, which is controlled by rebel factions, with support from Uganda and Rwanda. Millions of Congolese have been forced out of the the mining areas. The extent of human rights abuses are well documented.

In the mid 1990s, massive influxes of refugees from Rwanda and Burundi impacted Congo, with disastrous consequences on the Congolese environment: deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching in the eastern part of the country". Although the majority of these refugees were repatriated in 1996, the effects of the damage is still an issue for the DROC today. In addition, widespread fighting between the DROC rebel forces and the government continue to cause migration and internal displacement of the Congolese people.

In Angola, the exploitation of natural resources has replaced the aid provided to rival rebel groups by the US and USSR during the cold war. The MPLA exploits Angola's vast oil reserves, and UNITA through the mining and selling of diamonds. The region is rampant with corruption, and law and order non-existent. Gangs of diggers and dealers smuggle large quantities of diamonds out of the country through neighboring Congo where they are then dispersed throughout the world. In a country where unemployment is over 40% the actions of the hoards of prospectors is not surprising.

For the last forty years the diamond giant De Beers, through its London based Central Selling Organization (CSO), has held a virtual monopoly on the diamond industry by controlling the sales of some 80 percent of the worlds diamonds on behalf of the industriesþ major producers. However, De Beers, in recent years, has lost control of a sizeable portion of its market share as major diamond producing countries such as Russia and Angola have realized their bargaining position and sought better deals from De Beers by threatening to sell outside of the CSOþs artificial price level. This combined with the fact that UNITA smuggles more than $200 million a year in diamonds onto the world market has the diamond industry in a flux over the possibility of world diamond prices plummeting as the market is flooded by excess diamonds. With the world diamond market undergoing such a monumental transition it is unlikely that mining companies will be willing to invest in the Angolan diamond regions to the level that is required for the current environmental degradation to stop and the economy of Angola to start.

ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IS FOREVER For the last two decades diamond mining activities have focused on quick revenues to fuel the civil war. This has resulted in the use of outdated and environmentally damaging mining procedures and equipment.

Pipe minng is a type of open-pit mining that removes large quantities of "overburden" (rocks and dirt) in order to access the diamonds. Large areas of land and surrounding ecosystems are disturbed and damaged. Generally, the overburden is not properly disposed of, which causes further damage. In addition, acid mine drainage can occur. Not surprisingly, in Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone, there is virtually no oversight of mining operations. In these regions, in addition to the human costs associated with “conflict diamonds,” the environmental toll of diamond mining operations can be steep – pits are left open and loose fill is left unmanaged to runoff into rivers and streams, often with catastrophic effects.

An additional result of diamond mining is the diversion of rivers to allow for the mining of alluvial diamond deposits. When the mine is depleted, he rivers are not redirected to their original courses, which in turn results in the pollution of waters and destruction of surrounding flora and fauna. The mining activities also degrade the surrounding land by increasing atmospheric air pollution, contaminating surface and ground water and increasing soil erosion and leaching. The pollution is, in the most extreme cases, leading to desertification and permanently changing land use from agriculture to waste, rendering it useless to traditional inhabitants when the diamonds have all been mined. In the short run the inhabitants of the region are suffering from sickness and disease related to contaminated drinking water supplies. Such diseases include dissentry, Malaria, schistosamiases and Biomphalaria pfeiffer.

But the fact that diamonds are sparkly and might get one laid outweigh these problems.

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Read a great book on the diamond business.