Lacking strong controls and regulation, diamond mining has wreaked environmental havoc throughout Africa and other parts of the world. Ninety years of environmental neglect in Angola have devastated large tracts of land, poisoned local water, forced indigenous populations to relocate, and removed their primary livelihood. Kono, in the heart of the diamond mining region in Sierra Leone has experienced a complete loss of rich agricultural soil and farming fields to mining debris. The land is now scarred with thousands of abandoned mining pits filled with mosquito-infested water.

But damage to the environment is not the inevitable result of diamond mining -- there are ways to mitigate the effects in different climates. While the Canadian Arctic is a very fragile ecosystem, it is heavily regulated to protect the surroundings. Tropical regions, which are also fragile, are far less well-regulated. Tropical environments rely on a shallow topsoil for agriculture, which is easily destroyed by unregulated mining activity.

Further Reading

Does Diamond Mining Hurt the Environment? (Jewelers Circular Keystone, Oct 10, 2007)

Responsible Indulgences (Wiretap, Feb 14, 2006)

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