(L) Selma Three Stone Engagement Ring. (R) The Greener Diamond Farm Project. MiaDonna
By Bailey Hopp
If you had to choose a diamond for your engagement ring from below or above the ground, which would you pick … and why would you pick it? This is the main question consumers are facing when picking out their diamond engagement ring today. With a dramatic increase in demand for conflict-free lab-grown diamonds, the diamond industry is shifting right before our eyes.
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<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA2OTgwOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTYzMzg5NX0.lfzTyU2D5vdOgSjRcvxr_sXkm5E9RU4sezE4polebJA/img.jpg?width=980" id="f8837" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="80e87569e958bf21f06f0494728c7152" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Loose lab-grown diamonds and gem stones. MiaDonna
<p>The disruption of the earth-mined diamond industry has brought many new jewelers to the playing field offering ethical, cost effective, and often higher quality alternatives for consumers to choose from. The <a href="https://www.gia.edu/gia-news-research/difference-between-natural-laboratory-grown-diamonds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gemological Institute of America</a> (GIA) provides all the information to the consumer to make it crystal clear that lab-grown diamonds are in fact, 100% diamond. Made by either high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD), each laboratory-grown diamond is created chemically, physically and optically identical to their earth-mined diamond counterparts, making them indistinguishable to the trained eye, and up-to 40% less the cost. Additionally, both types of diamonds are graded the same way, by the same laboratories that grade earth-mined diamonds.</p><p>Although the two diamond types are identical to the eye, their origin stories couldn't be more different. The diamond industry has been built completely on 'a diamond is forever,' but when our natural resources for mining these diamonds are quickly running out, where else are we to turn but to lab-grown diamonds? </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australias-biggest-diamond-mine-is-running-out-of-diamonds-these-are-the-key-players-in-the-race-to-replace-argyle-2018-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Insider Australia</a> recently reported that Australia's biggest diamond mine, Argyle Diamonds, which produces nearly 95% of Australia's earth-mined diamonds, will cut production this year by around 10%. The mines are running out and our planet is suffering from the open pits being completely emptied. On the opposing side, production for lab-grown diamonds has <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/columbia-river-lab-created-diamond-foundry-wenatchee-washington-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ramped up</a> with lab-grown diamond producer Diamond Foundry securing a new production factory in Washington State, which is said to scale up production from approximately 100,000 carats (of diamonds) per year currently, to upwards of 1 million carats per year. According to a recent article in the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/The-diamond-of-the-future-is-here-now-It-was-13654035.php#photo-16969954" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">San Francisco Chronicle</a>, Tom Chatham, CEO of Chatham Created Gems, says that there are two main reasons lab-grown diamonds are the wave of the future. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA2OTgxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzY2NTc3OX0.kbTwuuv157QR-tjT5ny89ASVpwYhslinPaCcynCtpM8/img.jpg?width=980" id="dd2c8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1faf8237efdec63755216adbf08c2fd7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Lab-grown diamond engagement rings. MiaDonna
<p>"One is that the major five producers of natural diamonds speculated that there will be no natural diamond production after 2050 because they've run out of profitable deposits. Reason two is that for the last 10 years, we've been sought out by people, Millennials, who want to buy something that doesn't come out of the earth, who care about the earth and the damage we've created," he adds.</p><p>When it comes to the effects related to the social and humanitarian issues of mining diamonds, lab-grown diamonds also have the upper hand here. In a recent case announced last month, the <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-detention-orders-against-companies-suspected-using-forced" target="_blank">U.S. Customs and Border Protection</a> (CBP) admitted that gold from artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and rough diamonds mined from Marange Diamond Fields in Zimbabwe are "produced, in whole or in part, using forced labor." </p><p>The CBP stated that they would issue Withhold Release Orders for gold mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and rough diamonds mined from Marange, Zimbabwe, along with 3 other products believed to be produced using forced labor. Additionally, in a 2017 report from the <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/607311509663221201/pdf/Concept-Project-Information-Document-Integrated-Safeguards-Data-Sheet.pdf" target="_blank">World Bank</a> on extractive industries in Sierra Leone, research found that 'it's estimated that approximately 300,000 Sierra Leoneans are directly employed at artisanal mining operations.' </p><p>Although the diamond industry is expansive and abundant in many countries across Africa, it's rare that these artisanal mines enforce proper labor laws and environmental standards.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA2OTgxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjQ5ODU0MH0.D273Rhn21oKUNGFuDVHjImwBXWHdq7IRCoURU_HJVzQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="9dfa3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5c67f5bde497f06b3026db826b12ca09" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Custom MiaDonna lab-grown diamond engagement ring. MiaDonna
<p> In a recent <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/beyond-the-hype-of-lab-grown-diamonds-1834890351" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a> article, GIA's James Shipley said that advancements in the lab-grown diamond industry has only really taken off in the last five years or so, when the mainstream jewelry sector began taking notice. The <a href="https://www.theigda.org/" target="_blank">International Grown Diamond Association</a> (IGDA), a non-profit organization formed in 2016 by a <a href="https://www.theigda.org/members" target="_blank">dozen</a> lab diamond growers and sellers, now has about 50 members, according to IGDA Secretary General, Dick Garard. When the IGDA first formed, lab-grown diamonds were estimated to represent about <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/diamond-market-lab-grown-disruption" target="_blank">1 percent</a> of a $14 billion rough diamond market. </p><p> This year, industry analyst Paul Zimnisky estimates they account for 2-3 percent of the market. He expects that share will only continue to grow as factories in China that already produce millions of carats a year for industrial purposes start to see an opportunity in jewelry. Zimnisky also <a href="https://5b16c634-a-8b9f6598-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/paulzimnisky.com/paul-zimnisky/Jeweller%20Magazine%20-%20December%202018%2C%20PP%2032-33%2C%20Paul%20Zimnisky.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7crF_76zEujmBNhEZwCdCTFYygwqvs9ZPmRKxc9bn2NTsmLUk9hdFpt5wmTm5-1UjXgqJ8i3wFe0WUr8dKbkN2k7-nnyQL20shVtlHZBJb6Bke-PMyYOzTM2IBlOWxr0P-rkjGFvRPBFRQSmoc4RlzynNiHN8LHdQyEEWGGk83jZZduPu5hPDPC8lHCxvIOAPWCi5Y5ENeZQJEOxK6KoDRQKkoaSiFcGAJz6AiokfTXn2GPjRI5MuCD1z8praQuwxvRyqZKAxHXZ9KlO7qZQG1uQFlUWVPh3w1m3wtljQ1TKtRoB0v8%3D&attredirects=0" target="_blank">estimates</a> that lab-created diamond market shares in the fashion jewelry market are forecasted to grow to almost 7 percent by 2035. </p><p> MiaDonna, specifically, was founded with a single objective in mind: to offer consumers a beautiful, ethical and affordable diamond alternative which in turn, would support <a href="http://thegreenerdiamond.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Greener Diamond</a> to help free innocent children oppressed by the active conflict diamond mining industry. With every order placed at MiaDonna, they give back at least 10% of net profits to directly fund projects and initiatives to help local communities have alternative career paths to mining in countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia. They aren't here to just sell consumers lab-grown diamonds, they're here to rebuild the lives and land damaged by diamond mining and provide better, safer and more sustainable options for those who would otherwise be involved in the conflict diamond industry. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA2OTgxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjQ1MTk4N30.raUgtyjAnA1orrqJRIW43hG92hTYTZNzx0bN3Z5mToU/img.jpg?width=980" id="dc737" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="65e32560b0e122724d08157c5854d6c2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Greener Diamond Farm Project. MiaDonna
<p> In addition, this year MiaDonna became a <a href="https://bcorporation.net/directory/mia-donna-company" target="_blank">Certified B Corporation</a>, which takes into account the company's overall social and environmental performance and evaluates how its operations and business model impact not only their own employees, but also the community, environment and customers. On top of their B Corp efforts, MiaDonna uses only recycled precious metals for all of their engagement ring settings, all of their jewelry is handcrafted in the U.S.A. and they even created an eco-friendly jewelry cleaner using a non-toxic formula that is both environmentally safe and packaged in a fully recyclable, grade 1 container. Learn more about MiaDonna <a href="https://www.miadonna.com/pages/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a> and shop all lab-grown jewelry, engagement rings and accessories. </p><p> Whatever your personal preference may be when it comes to diamonds, lab-grown diamonds are here, and they're here to stay. By being an active, conscious consumer and doing your research into the products you're purchasing and the companies you're purchasing from, you'll have full control over what best fits your needs and desires. There will always be two sides to every coin, but with the resources available for consumers to make their own educated decisions on choosing their diamond, the power is in the people. </p>
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An upaved road in rural Congo, province of Equateur. guenterguni / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Morgan Erickson-Davis
Africa's Congo Basin is home to the second largest rainforest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon not be the case. It finds that at current rates of deforestation, all primary forest will be gone by the end of the century.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the U.S. who analyzed satellite data collected between 2000 and 2014. Their results were published Wednesday in Science Advances. It reveals that the Congo Basin lost around 165,000 square kilometers (approximately 64,000 square miles) of forest during their study period.
<p>In other words, one of the world's largest rainforests lost an area of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests">forest</a> bigger than Bangladesh in the span of 15 years.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODgxMzY0OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTE0MzEwOX0.W3wERSuZ5UcNfJBMe3MOC6PtUZ_feBZEI4a2WL6JUNc/img.jpg?width=980" id="55cc2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="417c39ade1e490c7e738f2dd703ef9a1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">The Congo Basin rainforest is home to many species, such as this okapi (Okapia johnstoni), which is listed as Endangered by the IUCN and is found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</small></p><p>But why? Is it due to industrial pressure like in South America and Southeast Asia where the majority of deforestation has been done for soy, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/palm-oil">palm oil</a> and other commodity crops? Or commercial logging, which is razing forests on the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/chinese-demand-wiping-out-forests-in-the-solomon-islands-new-report/" target="_blank">Solomon Islands</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/high-risk-that-chinas-timber-from-png-is-illegal-new-report/" target="_blank">Papua New Guinea</a>?<br></p><p>Not so much, according to this newest study. It reveals that the dominant force behind rising Congo deforestation, driving more than 80 percent of the region's total forest loss, is actually small-scale clearing for subsistence <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">agriculture</a>. The researchers write that most of it is done by hand with simple axes.</p><p>According to the authors, the preponderance of small-scale deforestation of Congo rainforest is due largely to poverty stemming from political instability and conflict in the region. The Congo Basin rainforest is shared by six countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo (RoC) and Gabon. Of these, the DRC holds the largest share of Congo forest—60 percent—and is home to more people than the other five combined. The DRC, along with CAR, has a human development index in the bottom 10 percent, meaning that lifespans, education levels and per capita GDP there are among the lowest in the world.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODgxMzYyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDU5NjExOH0.dEALp4xLPXByb10OxkCtzXRFng0vXmV6gXD5DSdzaOo/img.jpg?width=980" id="ebaaf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b151fa8fa5194bb3cd4e04bf6912782b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Three-year moving average of annual forest loss area for the major disturbance categories in all countries</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Image from Tyukavina et al., Sci. Adv. 2018;4: eaat2993</small></p><p>With few livelihood options, most people survive by carving farmland out of the forest. These plots are farmed until the soil runs dry of nutrients, whereupon a new plot is cleared and planted.<br></p><p>Before now, it wasn't exactly understood how much this type of smallholder farming called "shifting cultivation" and other forms of small-scale agriculture were contributing to overall Congo deforestation. So UMD researchers looked for patterns signaling different types of deforestation in regional tree cover loss data captured by satellites.</p><p>According to study coauthor Alexandra Tyukavina, "It was important for us to explicitly quantify proportions of different drivers, to demonstrate just how dominant the small-scale clearing of forests for shifting cultivation is within the region, and to show that it's not only re-clearing of secondary forests, but also expansion into primary forests." Tyukavina is a post-doctoral associate at UMD's Department of Geographical Sciences.</p><p>Tyukavina and her colleagues found that small-scale forest clearing for agriculture contributed to around 84 percent of Congo Basin deforestation between 2000 and 2014. When zooming in on the portions contained only in the DRC and CAR, that number goes up to more than 90 percent. The only country where small-scale agriculture isn't the driving force of deforestation is Gabon, where industrial selective logging is the biggest single cause of forest loss.</p><p>The study also reveals that the majority—60 percent—of Congo deforestation between 2000 and 2014 happened in primary forests and woodlands, and in mature secondary forests.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODgxMzYyNi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNTMwNDMzNn0.mKXL-zVZj1E-R-KIPXQ9nCmejY0jHiBXWK10E7hl_-8/img.png?width=980" id="c5923" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c1d0038ab7f93b9d50e86324e6fc4938" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Pre-disturbance forest type. (A) Reference pre-disturbance type for sampled pixels identified as forest loss. (B) National estimates of 2000-2014 forest loss area by re-disturbance forest type. Area estimates expressed in ha along with SEs are presented table S2A.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Image fro Tyukavina et al., Sci. Adv. 2018;4: eaat2993</small></p><p>The United Nations projects that there will be a fivefold increase in human population in the Congo Basin by the end of the century. The researchers found that if current trends hold, this means that there will be no primary Congo rainforest left by 2100.<br></p><p>In their study, the researchers also warn of "a new wave" of large-scale clearing for industrial agriculture. While contributing a comparatively scant 1 percent of Congo deforestation during the study period, it appears to be trending upward, particularly in coastal countries.</p><p>"Land use planning that minimizes the conversion of natural forest cover for agro-industry will serve to mitigate this nascent and growing threat to primary forests," the researchers write.</p>
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</p><div id="8d62f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0RC7NI1576661803"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1044662912210620418" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wings of Paradise: Drawing Attention to #Rainforest Destruction https://t.co/M0VJkuIzrD @Greenpeace @WildForests @SkyRainforest</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1044662912210620418">1537902021.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em><br></p>
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Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, near Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Neil Palmer, CIAT / CC BY 2.0
New University of Maryland data published by Global Forest Watch (GFW) Wednesday revealed 2017 as the second-worst year on record for tropical tree cover loss, a GFW blog announced.
Tropical tree cover decreased by an area the size of Bangladesh—a total of 39 million acres. That amounts to 40 football fields worth of trees cut every minute of last year in a devastating blow to biodiversity and the global climate.
<p>Despite conservation efforts, 2017 was only slightly less devastating for tropical <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests" target="_self">rainforests</a> than 2016, according to the <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/06/deforestation-accelerating-despite-mounting-efforts-protect-tropical-forests" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a> (WRI), which runs GFW.</p><p>"This is truly an urgent issue that should be getting more attention," WRI senior fellow Frances Seymour told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2018/jun/27/one-football-pitch-of-forest-lost-every-second-in-2017-data-reveals" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "We are trying to put out a house fire with a teaspoon." </p><p>Part of the loss is due to a nasty <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a> feedback loop. Forests are an important carbon sink, and deforestation contributes as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as the U.S., according the The Guardian. This drives global warming that makes <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> and storms more common and severe, partly contributing to more tree cover loss. For example, 2017's devastating <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricanes</a> cost the island of Dominica 32 percent of its tree cover and Puerto Rico 10 percent, according to GFW.</p><p>But most of last year's loss was more directly human caused. </p><p>"The main reason tropical forests are disappearing is not a mystery—vast areas continue to be cleared for soy, beef, palm oil, timber, and other globally traded commodities," Seymour told The Guardian. </p><p>Brazil had the dubious honor of leading the world's countries in 2017 tree cover loss, mostly due to fires set to clear land. Brazil saw an important decline in tree cover loss beginning in 2005, but it spiked again to the highest it's ever been in 2016 and only fell slightly this year. This is partly due to political instability, lack of enforcement and a government that has rolled back environmental protections, according to GFW.</p><p>"What we are seeing today is the backlash," Carlos Nobre at the University of São Paulo, Brazil told The Guardian.</p><p>"Global warming makes much hotter temperatures, making forests more vulnerable to human-set fires and natural-caused fires," Nobre added.</p><p>Also in the Amazonian region, Colombia saw a 46 percent spike in tree cover loss after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were pushed out of forested areas, leading aspiring farmers and miners to race to clear and develop the previously inaccessible land.</p><p>In Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) broke its record for tree cover loss in 2017, mostly due to agriculture, logging and charcoal production. </p><p>The one bright spot was Indonesia, which saw an overall decline in tree cover lost and a 60 percent drop in the loss of primary forest. Part of this is due to a national moratorium on peat drainage that went into effect in 2016, GFW said. </p>
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A team from Greenpeace Africa has been studying tropical peatland near Lokolama. Kevin McElvaney / Greenpeace
By Daisy Dunne
Just over a year ago, scientists announced the discovery of the world's largest intact tropical peatland in a remote part of the Congo's vast swampy basin.
The Cuvette Centrale peatlands stretch across an area of central Africa that is larger than the size of England and stores as much as 30 billion tonnes of carbon.
<p>Now, the same research team has published a new study finding that future <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>, along with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a>, could threaten the peatlands' ability to soak up and store large amounts of carbon.</p><p>If left unaddressed, these threats could cause the Congo peatlands to turn from a carbon sink into a carbon source, the study says. This means that the peatlands could contribute to climate change by releasing more carbon than they are able to absorb.</p><p>Protecting the peatlands from climate change will require "an international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," the lead author told <a href="http://carbonbrief.org" target="_blank">Carbon Brief</a>.</p><p><strong>Peat Power</strong></p><p>The Cuvette Centrale, which spans both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (see map below), is the second-largest tropical wetland in the world.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzEyNDk2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODgyODA4NH0.Ps86Eve7sBf0Bjwvh44bWc72dMsKRD3xPNYkKg2GgxU/img.jpg?width=980" id="a1864" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac1849e49e5bacfb484d777a586a0a81" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Location of the Cuvette Centrale wetlands in Africa (in green)</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Dargie et al (2017)</small></p>
<p>The peatlands within the Cuvette Centrale covers 145,500 sq km and contains 30 percent of the world's tropical peatland carbon, according to the 2017 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21048" target="_blank">Nature paper</a>. This is equivalent to about 20 years' worth of U.S. CO2 emissions from burning <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>.<br></p><p>Across the world, peat covers just 3 percent of the land's surface, but stores <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02279.x/abstract" target="_blank">one-third</a> of the earth's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soil</a> carbon.</p><p>Peat is a wetland soil made of partially decomposed plant debris. It is usually found in cooler, waterlogged environments, explained <a href="https://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/study/phd/profiles/greta-dargie/" target="_blank">Dr. Greta Dargie</a>, a research fellow from the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/" target="_blank">University of Leeds</a> and lead author of the study published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-017-9774-8" target="_blank">Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change</a>. She told Carbon Brief:</p><p>"Under waterlogged conditions, the usual decomposition of dead trees and leaves is slowed, meaning there is a build-up of carbon-rich material which we call peat. A long slow build-up means that peatlands store enormous quantities of carbon."</p><p>Future climate change presents one of the largest threats to the Congo peatlands, the new study finds.</p><p>The latest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg2/WGIIAR5-Chap22_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">assessment report</a> (pdf) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finds that the region could warm by around 0.5°C from 2000 to the end of the century under a low-emissions scenario (<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-011-0152-3" target="_blank">RCP2.6</a>) and by 4.5°C under a high-emissions scenario (<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-011-0149-y" target="_blank">RCP8.5</a>).</p><p>It is less clear how global warming could affect <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-what-climate-models-tell-us-about-future-rainfall" target="_blank">rainfall</a> in the region, but <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royptb/368/1625/20120298.full.pdf" target="_blank">research</a> (pdf) suggests that the peatlands could experience an overall reduction in rainfall and an increase in the number of dry periods as the climate warms.</p><p>A combination of less rainfall and higher temperatures could cause parts of the peatlands to dry out, which could reduce the rate of plant decomposition and, therefore, the rate that the peatlands can absorb carbon from the atmosphere.</p><p>Drier conditions could also prompt the peatlands to start releasing larger amounts of carbon, said <a href="http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/people/academic-staff/simon-lewis" target="_blank">professor Simon Lewis</a>, a study author from the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/" target="_blank">University of Leeds</a> and <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_blank">University College London</a>, and one of Carbon Brief's <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/about-us" target="_blank">contributing editors</a>. He told Carbon Brief:</p><p>"The critical insight here is that the central Congo peatlands are probably maintained by rainwater. So, even modest reductions in dry season water-logging, perhaps through rising temperatures and increasing evaporation rates, would mean the whole system moves from a carbon sink to a carbon source."</p><p>In other words, climate change could cause the Congo peatlands to start releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than it is able to absorb.</p><p><strong>Forest Under Threat</strong></p><p>Another threat to Congo's peatlands could come from a potential rise in deforestation for wood and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/palm-oil">palm oil</a> production in the region, the study notes.</p><p>The removal of trees from above peatlands can leave large areas of ground exposed to the sun, which can cause the boggy ground to dry out. This can cause the peatlands to release carbon at a faster rate.</p><p>At present, government officials from the DRC have granted logging access to 20 percent of the forested peatlands. The extent of the logging concession agreements (red outlines) is shown on the chart below, where dark grey indicates peatland and light grey shows other types of land cover.</p><p>At least one concession agreement (shown in shaded red) has also been approved for the construction of an oil palm plantation in the Republic of the Congo part of the peatlands, which would take up 4,200 sq km of forested peatlands.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzEyNDk2Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzA1NTE0OX0.WKrFmt_Sv4-YcJqGF6AGSNFuPMEGpFOeUr1_CdmXVJY/img.png?width=980" id="ee3f1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7b7a2280fcab19e2f947e1e575039e8a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Extent of logging concessions (red outlines) and oil palm concessions (shaded red) granted in the Cuvette Centrale. Dark grey shows the location of the Cuvette Centrale peatlands, while light grey shows other types of land cover. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Dargie et al. (2018)</small></p>
<p>Despite these agreements being reached, logging operations are yet to commence in the peatland forests. This is likely to be because the DRC introduced a national ban on logging in 2002, the study notes.<br></p><p>However, the country's government is currently considering lifting this ban, which would mean logging could be permitted across large areas of the peatland region.</p><p><a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/is-the-forestry-project-of-the-french-development-agency-threatening-the-peatlands-of-the-drc-commentary/" target="_blank">Plans</a> to lift the ban are being driven forward by the French Development Agency (<a href="http://www.afd.fr/fr" target="_blank">AFD</a>) with financial support from the Norway-led Central African Forests Initiative (<a href="http://www.cafi.org/" target="_blank">CAFI</a>), Lewis said. These groups argue that lifting the ban could aid social development in the region and make it easier to curb illegal and unregulated deforestation.</p><p>On top of this, the peatlands could also be affected by plans to construct hydroelectric <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams">dams</a> in region, including the <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/grand-inga-hydroelectric-project-an-overview-3356" target="_blank">Grand Inga hydropower project</a>. Such projects could divert water away from the wetlands, the study notes.</p><p>Overall, the peatlands face an immediate risk from deforestation and land-use change and a more long-term threat from climate change, Lewis said:</p><p>"The competing threats of direct land-use change and climate change are difficult to compare. The speed with which land can be converted is fast and can quickly kill large areas of swamp forest. But other areas would probably remain unaffected. The speed of climate change is slower than the movement of bulldozers, but could affect the entire peatland."</p><p><strong>Protecting Peat</strong></p><p>To protect the peatlands in the short term, policymakers should consider introducing new environmental protections to the region, the authors wrote in their paper:</p><p>"Further research, therefore, needs to integrate knowledge from local communities, the natural sciences and social sciences, to develop a more holistic understanding of the Cuvette Centrale peatlands and facilitate local communities and their governments to manage and protect this globally significant region."</p><p>However, protecting the peatlands from the threat of climate change will require a long-term "international effort," Dargie said:</p><p>"With climate change, there is also the added complication that Republic of the Congo and DRC government policies and interventions alone will not be enough to avoid any negative impacts on the Congo Basin peatlands. That will require an international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-change-and-deforestation-threaten-worlds-largest-tropical-peatland" target="_blank">Carbon Brief</a>.</em></p>
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Workers rip the earth apart in search of gold at the Sufferance mine in the Ituri region. Much of Congo's gold, more than $600 million worth a year, is smuggled across borders. Photo credit: Marcus Bleasdale / National Geographic
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The leaked draft of a presidential memorandum Donald Trump is expected to sign within days suspends a 2010 rule that discouraged American companies from funding conflict and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through their purchase of "conflict minerals."
<p>The memo, distributed inside the administration on Friday afternoon and obtained by <a href="https://theintercept.com/" target="_blank">The Intercept</a>, directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to temporarily waive the requirements of the Conflict Mineral Rule, a provision of the Dodd Frank Act, for two years—which the rule explicitly allows the president to do for national security purposes. The memorandum also directs the State Department and Treasury Department to find an alternative plan to "address such problems in the DRC and adjoining countries."</p><p>The idea behind <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-245.htm" target="_blank">the rule</a>, which had bipartisan support, was to drain militias of revenue by forcing firms to conduct reviews of their supply chain to determine if contractors used minerals sourced from the militias.</p><p>The impending decision comes as Trump held a meeting Wednesday with Brian Krzanich, the chief executive of Intel, one of the leading firms impacted by conflict mineral regulations. At the White House today, Krzanich appeared with the president to announce a new manufacturing plant in Arizona.</p><p>Human rights advocates—who had celebrated the conflicts rule as a major step forward—were appalled.</p><p>"Any executive action suspending the U.S. conflict minerals rule would be a gift to predatory armed groups seeking to profit from Congo's minerals as well as a gift to companies wanting to do business with the criminal and the corrupt," said Carly Oboth, the policy adviser at <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/" target="_blank">Global Witness</a>, in a statement responding to a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-conflictminerals-idUSKBN15N06N" target="_blank">Reuters article</a> that first reported the move.<br></p><p>"It is an abuse of power that the Trump administration is claiming that the law should be suspended through a national security exemption intended for emergency purposes. Suspending this provision could actually undermine U.S. national security."</p><p>Advanced computer chips, including technology <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/fix-smartphone-2003233934.html">used in cell phones</a> and semiconductors, contain minerals often sourced from war-torn countries in central Africa. Firms such as Intel, Apple, HP and IBM use advanced chips that contain tantalum, gold, tin and tungsten—elements that can be mined at low prices in the the DRC, where mines are often controlled by militias fueling a decades long civil war.</p><div id="e0e6f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FFRNF01524749983"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="775810075818622976" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Why Fixing Your Phone Is One of the Most Empowering Things You Can Do https://t.co/Q4u7I8sBso @Greenpeace @HuffPostGreen</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/775810075818622976">1473802510.0</a></blockquote></div><p>American tech companies, such as Intel, <a href="https://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=0E366C08-0176-4CDF-8938-3A8ECF9BDD50&filingTypeID=60" target="_blank">lobbied directly</a> on the rule when it was proposed. But since passage, tech firms have largely used third party business groups to stymie the rule. Trade groups representing major U.S. tech firms and other manufacturers, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, attempted to block the rule through a federal lawsuit. In 2014, a federal court struck down a part of the rule that forced firms to reveal DRC conflict minerals on their corporate websites.<br></p><p>Intel is also one of the firms that has touted its effort to comply with the law, publishing a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-40-10/s74010-419.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> that notes the company has conducted 40 on-site reviews of smelters in the eastern DRC.</p><p>Reuters also <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-conflictminerals-idUSKBN15N06N" target="_blank">reported</a> that acting SEC chief Michael Piwowar has taken steps to also weaken enforcement, asking staff to "reconsider how companies should comply."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/08/leaked-memo-trump-conflict-minerals/" target="_blank">The Intercept</a>.</em><br></p>
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