CIBJO to Lead Sustainable Jewelry Efforts

CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, said Tuesday it has reached an understanding with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that will allow the organization to coordinate educational programs that will assist toward the creation of viable and sustainable jewelry industries in developing countries.

This agreement came about following an Oct. 31 meeting with ECOSOC and the Nov. 5 launch of its new Web site, www.sustainablejewellery.org.

“The launch of the sustainable jewelry Web site is only a first step in a series of activities CIBJO intends to initiate and coordinate in countries that are interested in setting up a sustainable and responsible jewelry industry,” Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO president said. “When we convened in Geneva in October, we were invited, under the auspices of the UN Development Program and with the encouragement and support of ECOSOC, to become a pivotal factor in initiating, advancing, coordinating and supporting education projects that will help get budding, sustainable jewelry industry projects on their way. There is a long way to go, but CIBJO, in cooperation with all its associate members and their respective initiatives can surely make a lasting contribution to these efforts.”

At the Geneva meeting, where CIBJO members were hosted by UN’s ECOSOC for a day-long seminar on social and corporate responsibility, CIBJO Presidential Council member James Evans Lombe, vice president of CIBJO Ethic Commission, gave a survey of initiatives that are already in place or under development in the jewelry industry, many of them with direct contribution from members and associate members of CIBJO.

Lombe reported on progress made in the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices and the Diamond Development Initiative.

“These programs, while run under their own, separate banners, all share common aims such as improving the livelihoods of the millions of people who are working in the jewelry supply chain,” Lombe said. “These principles are shared by CIBJO, its many constituents and associate members.”

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