Speaking during the opening day of the KP Intersessional (held in Botswana from June 20-24), World Diamond Council President Edward Asscher warned that the potential of natural diamond resources to serve as a driver for the development of sustainable economies and societies “is threatened if the Kimberley Process doesn’t evolve to address the challenges of today,” Rough & Polished reports.
Using Botswana as “the shining example of how the good fortune to be home to diamond deposits can be properly leveraged […]”, Asscher said that the KP must broaden the definition of “conflict diamonds.”
Asscher warned: “At present we see a strong growth in industry solutions launched to support the traceability of rough diamonds from the mine to the consumer. I predict that the strong and fast development of these systems, often using blockchain technologies, will lead to a downgrading of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), leading to a two-tier market for rough diamonds, about which I have warned frequently.”
Asscher expanded on the difference between natural and laboratory-grown diamonds as it pertains to social and economic development, saying: “Laboratory-grown goods provide no economic and social benefit to nations or their people. Their sole benefit is to a few shareholders.”
