Reasons for not sleeping

Economy

Diamonds and the World
When we think of diamonds, there are two words which suddenly come into our minds: “sparkle” and “gem”… yet behind the scintillating glitter of what is considered to be a girl’s best friend, much more is concealed: just like all industries, the diamond industry also means more globalization.

Diamonds: a helping jewel worldwide

by Kristine Renée M.

Diamonds are known for their dazzling elegance as jewelry, the ideal present which materializes the love and compassion which underlie the words “I do” – yet for the diamond producing countries, this isn't the only thing they are good for.

There are several diamond outputs spread across the globe from which these valuable stones are sourced, the top ten being India, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Namibia, Angola, Russia, Central African Republic, Guinea and Congo... and for these diamond producing countries, diamonds are not merely just another resource.

Most countries leading in rough diamond production are situated in the African continent.
Although the continent itself is considered to belong to the Third World, the diamond industry has helped stabilize the economy of some African countries and has helped improve myriad other aspects as well.

According to the GDP measures taken in the year 2008, the Gross Domestic Product of African countries whose blooming economy partially relies on the diamond industry is blatantly higher in comparison with other African countries.

These fast improving economies include South Africa's (11% of world rough diamond production), Botswana's (27%) and Namibia's, one of the world's largest producers of gem-quality diamonds.
How did the diamond industry achieve all this? Diamonds, for example, is a resource which accounts for 76% of Botswana's income in export into other countries, 45% of the government's revenue (= grossed income in a period of time) and 33% of the above cited gross domestic product (GDP) whose average rate is 7% ever since the country's first encounter of diamonds in 1966. A concrete example of a contributor to the succeeding advancement of the country's economy is Debswana, a Botswana diamond company which works in collaboration with the Botswana government and which also carries out most of the country's diamond trade, the buyers often from the West.

Botswana's economy is deemed as one of the fastest advancing economies in the globe. If the country's diamond trade would dissolve, a loss of roughly $3 billion worth of income would take place yearly. Such an amount would mean a great negative impact on the country: the money used on social programs, improvement in infrastructure and as well as the government's investments would deplete greatly.

In other words: the diamond industry's revenues in each of the mentioned nations assist in sustaining the steadfast economic growth of the land, helping them keep their competitiveness in the global market.
The economy, however, isn't the sole beneficiary of a diamond providing country. Another apparent improvement the diamond industry has contributed to is for an instance the education, health care and as well as the infrastructure of African cities, in particular the capitals.

These are all several effects of a booming resource industry, which then lead to the inevitable betterment of the country's HDI (Human Development Index).
The HDI is a measure calculated every year by the United Nations which illustrates the well-being and life quality of the country.

Let's take a closer look at education in Botswana as another example: for years, the country's government's education policy aimed to reach the main goal of raising the educational standards at all levels, using the following to be able to achieve this:

''...To emphasise science and technology in the education system
To make further education and training more relevant and available to larger numbers of people
To improve the partnership between schools and communities in the development of education
To provide lifelong education to all sections of the population
To assume more effective control of the examination mechanism in order to ensure that the broad objectives of the curriculum are realised
To achieve efficiency in educational development...“

The point of these is, according to an article on Botswana education, “...to increase the competitiveness of the country's economy by placing great emphasis on the development of human resources to attain the goal of Botswana being prepared for the transition from the traditional agro-based economy to the industrial economy to which the country aspires.”

As a means of achieving this, it aims at raising productivity through education and training, and through acquiring entrepreneurial, managerial and technological capabilities.
Since gaining independence and the first discovery of diamonds in the African country, Botswana has made remarkable progress in ensuring that adequate educational facilities are made available to the entire population. By 1981, approximately 83.5 percent of children of primary school age were attending school, provision for secondary and tertiary education had increased dramatically and great efforts had been made in improving literacy levels and providing practical education. Between 1979 and 2002 enrolments in primary schools rose by 91 percent, in secondary schools by 342 percent and at the University of Botswana by 315 percent. Also, several government-funded programs were initiated to help improve the entire population's educational experience, the money used originating from their richness in resource, diamonds in particular.

As depicted in the HDI map on the left, most of the diamond furnishing African nations' HDI results indubitably overshadow the outputs of their neighboring countries, boosting the countries' reputation and potential in the global market by optimizing their abundance in valuable resources.
Diamonds – not only Third World countries have been profitting from them.

Diamond producing countries from the First World such as Canada and Australia have also been using the priceless demand for diamonds as a benefit – yet not only have the countries gotten profit from this, but also Mother Nature herself.

With an estimated C$1.5 billion worth of diamonds each year and more than thousands of job places provided in the Canadian diamond mining industry, Canada is considered as the third largest producer of diamonds in the world.
Diamond industry in Canada has boomed since its first run in the 1990s.

In 1991, the first economic diamond deposit was discovered in the Lac de Gras area of the Northwest Territories (NWT). Ever since then, the federal Canadian government was entitled to receive direct benefits of the diamond industry through the royalties, business and personal income taxes which came from diamond mines.

According to the estimations made by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the taxes collected in diamond mines located in the NWT may even sum up to a total of C$1.6 billion of royalties. In addition to that are the federal business taxes of C$2.6 billion, territorial taxes of C$1.3 billion and as well as other business income taxes of C$4.7 billion, resulting to a total of C§10.2 billion which the Canadian governement benefits from directly.

Across Canada, the diamond exploration expenditures encompassing 123 diamond companies reached up to C$251 million in the year 2005, all of which were mainly spent in the North Western Territories (Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario).

In a mere 11-year-span period of time, diamond mining contributed a total of C$2.9 billion (equivalent to 83.3%) of the total NWT Gross Domestic Product, the other 15.8% (equivalent to C$549.4 million) of the total GDP contributed by the abundant exploration activities initiated then.

In the following years, the two operating diamond minds in the NWT funded C$3.4 billion on goods and services in communities, improving hygiene and condition, thus raising quality and lifestyle in the area.
They also started initiating other type of projects which were to clean up the leftover garbage during the mining of diamonds, and also projects concerning renovations of infrastructure and purification of lakes.

So all in all, a diamond is not only a flashy trend to show off to your friends nor some trinket to compare with your colleagues; nor the ideal thing that tells your special someone how much you'd love to take a step further in your relationship ... but rather a shining jewel which brightens other people's future – and helps them bring a gleaming smile on their faces.


P.S: this is for a geography project, but I kind of decided to post it here, too. I tried to go for a journalistic impression, but I don't know whether I succeeded. And, of course, I'm open to any comments and opinions. :) Oh, and btw, I don't own the pictures, just to clarify that. :P