PARLIAMENTARY colleagues who have visited Sierra Leone recently returned with lurid accounts of people suffering hideous mutilations as a result of the cruel civil war raging there. In a recent editorial, 快猫短视频 made the case that in many an African country where diamonds and illegal mining are funding conflict, the big diamond companies now have a golden opportunity to put an end to illegal diamond trafficking (25 May, p 5).
Forensic geologists are developing non-destructive methods for identifying the source of diamonds, based on a global database of diamond varieties. Peter Hain, the minister for Europe, has expressed doubts that such a certification process could yet break the link between armed conflict and the illegal sale of rough diamonds. However, he gave four reasons for hoping that the scheme might work in the future.
First, it should be relatively easy to acquire sample diamonds for research. Liberia is the only West African country from which the UN bans exports of rough diamonds. So it is not difficult for the UN, scientists or anyone else to get hold of genuine rough diamonds from other countries, such as Sierra Leone. Secondly, monitoring provisions and verification measures are already built into the Kimberley Process 鈥� international negotiations to stem the trade in conflict diamonds. Industry and civil society alike welcome the inclusion of these provisions, but some, including the European Union, would like more on this. Thirdly, the Kimberley Process is a negotiation involving the equal participation of around 40 governments, industry and almost 100 civil society organisations. Finally, the Kimberley Process is much more than just a certification scheme for imports and exports. Governments and communities have an interest in making it work, given the importance of diamonds for economic development. If the forensic geologists can make certification watertight it could greatly help to reinforce the provisions of the eventual Kimberley Process, said Hain.
Advertisement
I hope the technology outlined elsewhere in that issue of 快猫短视频 (p 6) will come on stream sooner rather than later. If it does, much bloodshed could be avoided.
LAST year, I had the privilege of hosting Franklin Drilon, senate president in the Filipino parliament, and Jose de Venecia, speaker of the Filipino House of Representatives. They were both greatly concerned about global warming and said that at home their nights are now 2.5 掳C warmer than 50 years ago. This stirred me to ask Sally Keeble, the recently appointed junior minister at the Department for International Development, for a comment on the crucial third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Keeble replied that Britain is well on schedule to meet the targets set at the Kyoto climate conference in 1997. Britain has agreed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent by 2012, but the government wants to move beyond this to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 per cent by 2010. She went on to add that Britain and the other nations that signed the Kyoto Protocol are working to increase international understanding of the link between climate change and poverty. A major study has been commissioned to identify the policies and plans needed to achieve the UN鈥檚 鈥渕illennium development goals鈥� 鈥� to provide food, clean water and primary education for all 鈥� in the face of climate change. Britain will continue to support poorer countries in their efforts to adapt.
Certainly, every effort is necessary. Conflicts in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, stemming directly from conditions linked to deforestation and global warming, are not helped by terrorism related to Al-Qaida.
