Is boycotting natural mined diamonds the most ethical answer?
The natural diamond mining industry employs 10,000,000 people who depend on that work to support themselves and their families. If we completely stopped natural diamond mining, all of these people would lose their jobs. Is removing their livelihoods the ethical alternative or does the answer lie in better environmental regulations, stricter labor standards, and more community investment?
Because the truth is, the diamond industry is not what it used to be. Nowadays, almost all diamonds are certified conflict-free through the Kimberly Process and environmental practices are becoming more and more stringent – with many mines working towards only using recycled water and renewable energy, creating nature preserves for affected wildlife, and fully reclaiming the land once mining is complete. And in areas like Canada and Australia, wages, working conditions, and workplace safety are strictly regulated.
Also, many large diamond mines invest heavily in local communities, hiring large numbers of local workers, building infrastructure, and often partnering with local communities to make social investments – think schools, medical services, and services the community is missing.
For example, in the Northwest Territories in Canada, diamond mining has contributed $24 billion to the economy and of that, almost $17 billion has gone to local Northwest Territories businesses and $7.5 billion to indigenous-owned NTW businesses. In Botswana, natural diamonds make up 88% of their total exports and 33% of their total GDP.
This of course, is not true for every mine and every diamond. This is why traceability and transparency is so key with both natural diamonds and lab diamonds. When you know the exact origin of your diamond and the environmental and human rights practices at that particular mine or lab, you can truly know the ethics of that particular stone. Any retailer that claims all of their diamonds are ethical (whether lab or natural) without any information on the origins of each stone, is simply greenwashing.
