JEWELER’S TOOLKIT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Business everywhere is changing for the better, but the jewelry industry is still lagging behind. The hard realities of jewelry – destruction of the environment to secure raw materials, the release of toxic substances during mining, and dangerous mining conditions – all still exist.
It’s time for a change.
Do You Know Where Your Gold Comes From?
Amazon Aid Foundation’s “River of Gold” Project is thinking big to address a big problem.
Materially reducing, and ultimately reversing the destruction of the Amazon and the world’s forests from small scale gold mining will require large-scale, global awareness, and public outcry to drive the urgent action needed to promote a clean supply chain for gold.
Through a range of programs and initiatives, Amazon Aid educates audiences worldwide about the importance of the Amazon, the implications of its destruction, and solutions for protecting it. The worldwide release of our award-winning documentary “River of Gold”, the accompanying social impact campaign, resource guide, school curriculum, and educational initiatives will raise the bar by activating governments, NGOs, stakeholders, scientists, artists, and the general public to take specific actions to address this looming crisis catalysed by unregulated gold mining. Leaving the gold trade unregulated means that millions miss out on potential economic, social, and environmental benefits that can come from professionalizing the sector.
It is not hyperbole to state that the Amazon is at a tipping point. Because over one-fifth of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared since the 1970s, experts believe that at the current rate of destruction of the Amazon could be gone in 40 years.
How Can You Help?
You and your business are critical to building a responsible jewelry industry. Each time you purchase your materials, it is an opportunity to help build a better jewelry industry and improve your impact.
Gold is a conflict mineral. From the jeweler’s bench, where the best qualities of gold – such as workability, color, and resistance to tarnish – are employed to make beautiful things, the conditions at the source of the gold seem far away. After gold made headlines in 2010 for its role as a conflict mineral fueling one of the world’s deadliest wars in the eastern Congo, the United States government and others to took action to better regulate its trade. These regulations have failed to protect the vulnerable communities impacted by gold and the industry continues to take insufficient action on the issues. This lack of effective action enables the mineral to remain a valuable resource to be exploited by governments, organized criminal groups, and others.
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