Collective Effort for Transparency & Justice: Africa Bets on New Diamond Standard

The adoption of this standard is crucial for Africa to present a cohesive front in the diamond industry, Ms. Nosiphiwo Mzamo, CEO of the South African State Diamond Trader, tells Global South Pole.

The South African official notes that this collective approach will help address common challenges faced by African nations in the diamond sector.

“This is actually a very positive direction that has been taken by the African Diamond Producers Association in reaffirming its commitment to sustainable diamond mining practices and also recommending the sustainable diamond mining standard as a continent, which is the first of its kind. But also what is very important, the impact of this is to ensure that there's ethical sourcing and there's transparency in terms of diamond production, with also a focus mainly on traceability of getting the diamonds from the mine to the market,” she remarks.

Pointing out the challenges faced by the African diamond industry, Ms. Mzamo highlights the high costs of salaries and wages, lack of access to energy, and a shortage of investment, particularly in exploration and benefaction.

However, she identifies Western unilateral initiatives as the biggest challenge facing the sector and calls for more inclusive and collaborative approaches that respect Africa’s sovereignty and ensure mutual benefit.

“Our biggest challenge that we've been having with the influence from the Western countries is their unilateral initiatives in terms of how they're imposing their version of new definition on conflict diamonds. This is one we find that has a huge impact on our diamond industry as African diamond producers. So we are taking the stand on this diamond standard in ensuring that we are able to have a standard, and we don't get the Western countries dictating to us as the producers and traders of the diamond industry,” Mzamo stresses.

Sharing her vision for the BRICS diamond industry dialogue, which was recently established and also endorsed by the African Diamond Producers' Association, she describes it as a platform “for equal and fair interaction between parties that are involved in all segments of the global diamond trade.”

Urban Farming Revolution: Growing African Vegetables on Buildings to Feed Cities — Study

Dr. Karen Botes, a lecturer at the Department of Architecture, University of Pretoria and author of the research, is spearheading a project that aims to revolutionize urban farming by utilizing vertical spaces on buildings.

“We're looking at growing indigenous African vegetables on the facades of buildings. So we're looking at vertical agriculture, which means that we're going to use the walls of buildings to grow food,” Dr. Botes says.

According to the South African researcher, the approach to urban farming could significantly impact food production in densely populated areas where traditional agricultural land is scarce.

“The reason we're doing this is because in urban areas, we don't have a lot of space to grow food. And we need to look at alternative ways of producing food for the ever-growing population in urban areas,” she stresses.

To find out what else our guests had to say, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.

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