Fair Trade Jewelry

Introduction:

Here is a press release illustrating the power of share holders to demand Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from Gold Corp Inc. ~ Marc

In an unprecedented move Canadian mining firm Goldcorp Inc. has agreed to conduct an independent Human Rights Impact Assessment in Guatemala at the request of Canadian and Swedish shareholders.

The company has faced criticism regarding the environmental and human rights impacts of its mining operations. The shareholders hope that the assessment will become a benchmark for mining companies operating in high risk countries. The agreement was announced in a statement today.

The statement reads: “The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Staff Pension Fund, The Ethical Funds Company, The First Swedish National Pension Fund and The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, have reached an agreement with Goldcorp Inc. and have withdrawn a shareholder resolution submitted to the company in March. Goldcorp Inc. has agreed to commission an independent human rights impact assessment of its operations in Guatemala.”

The intention of the assessment is to provide the company with concrete recommendations regarding its implementation of practices, policies and procedures, and the impact of its operations on human rights.

A steering committee is being formed to oversee the assessment process and will include representatives from the company, shareholders and other stakeholders.

Shareholders expect the assessment to be completed in the next 8-12 months, at which time the company will develop a plan for implementing recommendations of the assessment.”

A group of investors has been in dialogue with the company for more than two years, and stepped up engagement efforts in February by conducting a field trip to Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in Guatemala.

The group met with NGOs, indigenous people, government authorities and company representatives in order to get a clearer picture of the complex situation. The trip culminated in a shareholder resolution submitted to the company.

“By taking on a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA), Goldcorp is behaving responsibly and responding to the concerns raised by local stakeholders in Guatemala. Goldcorp is also setting a standard for others in the mining industry - for which they should be commended,” said Bill Brassington of the PSAC Staff Pension Fund, who will represent the investor group in the HRIA steering committee.

“Mining corporations are increasingly operating in high risk areas - both in terms of culture and environment and they need to address these risks in a way that satisfies local stakeholders, as well as investors,” said Peter
Chapman, Executive Director of the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) which is providing research and engagement assistance to the PSAC and Meritas Mutual Funds.

“Business recognition of human rights obligations is relatively new,” said Robert Walker, Vice President of Sustainability at The Ethical Funds Company. “And human rights impact assessment is a relatively new concept for promoting human rights. We laud Goldcorp for embracing this tool as a foundation for protecting human rights and addressing community concerns in Guatemala. We look forward to reviewing the results.”

“The outcome of this process could set a precedent for the entire industry and is crucial for Guatemala, since the mining industry has rapidly expanded there. However, after ending 36 years of civil war, the country is extremely
vulnerable. Therefore, mining companies and others have a responsibility to make sure their business operations are sustainable over the long-term, and respect the Maya culture,” said Helene Regnell, Research Director of GES Investment Services, an advisor to the filing First and Fourth Swedish National Pension Funds as well as the Second and Third Swedish National Pension Funds who supported the resolution through their collaborative body, the Ethical Council.

For further information, contact: Bill Brassington, PSAC Staff Pension Fund, Phone: (604) 298-6301, Email: brassrouts@telus.net

Peter Chapman, Executive Director, SHARE, Phone: (604) 408-2456, Email: pchapman@share.ca

Robert Walker, Vice President, Sustainability, The Ethical Funds Company, Phone: (604) 714-3833, Mobile: (778) 772-2142, Fax: (604) 714-3861, Email: bwalker@ethicalfunds.com

Carl Rosén, Chairman, Ethical Council, Phone: +46 31 704 29 00, Mobile: +46 73 940 10 10, carl.rosen@ap2.se

Helene Regnell, Research Director, GES Investment Services, Phone: +46 8787 99 17, Mobile: +46 70 787 01 04, Email: helene.regnell@ges-invest.com

=== EARTHWORKS: Protecting Communities and the Environment

Stephen D’Esposito
President and Executive Director
EARTHWORKS
1612 K St., NW, Suite 808
Washington, D.C., USA 20006
202-887-1872×203
202-887-1875 (fax)
sdesposito@earthworksaction.org
www.earthworksaction.org

Tags: Spin, CSR, Ethical Initiatives, Sustainability, Transparency, Change Agents, Gold, Platinum, Ethics, Environment, Mining by Marc Choyt
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Pam Danizer is author of “Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience.” She writes about the new green luxury customer.

The typical ‘green’ consumer is no longer certain to be a fashion-challenged, granola-crunching wearer of Birkenstocks. Today, the consumer looking to go green is increasingly likely to be an affluent professional woman dressed in an eco-friendly and animal-free Stella McCartney power suit with satin pumps.

And if you want the affluent green-conscious customer’s dollars and loyalty, you need to pay attention to the priorities she finds important when making her selection of luxury goods and services.

Green luxury consumers look for social responsibility before making a purchase

According to Unity Marketing’s latest trend report on luxury, “Green Marketing and the Luxury Consumer,” luxury consumers are concerned about the environmental issues that hit closest to home, citing fuel and energy shortages and the use of renewable energy sources as top concerns.

With gas prices at $4 a gallon ­ and this might be the summer low ­ even the affluent find it hard to ignore the impact of filling your tank a couple of times a week.

However, luxury consumers are also looking beyond their pocketbooks to larger issues, like protecting the environment, global warming and avoiding water and air pollution.

Leaders on these issues are affluent women. In all of the green issues that Unity Marketing studied, women popped as being much more concerned than men.

This is an important signal for luxury marketers to sit up and take notice, as women are often the major shoppers for a family, making the primary decisions about the products and services the family will purchase. For luxury consumers, an increasing number are looking to a company’s environmental practices before making a purchase.”

Luxury marketers take action: You need to think of the long term and going green should be part of the plan

A lot of marketers are skeptical about the green trend. They don’t know whether it has legs or is just a passing fad for the moment. I am convinced that this issue is only going to gain momentum in the future, with the affluent consumers in particular taking the lead as early adopters of green living.

So the call is for luxury brands to connect with their customers who are increasingly green aware and eco-conscious by making green marketing a part of their strategy. Luxury marketers can learn by studying trend-setters who are creating a dedicated following among green-living luxury consumers.

For example, only a few years ago designer Stella McCartney with her no-animal policy was considered very much on the fringe of fashion. Today she is front and center as a luxury designer of fashion-forward and environmentally-sound style.

Donna Karan is also at the forefront of the green movement through her Urban Zen initiative which combines a philanthropic foundation along with a retail arm that distributes a line of natural and organic fashions.

Saks Fifth Avenue is another trend-setter in the green marketing category. From converting their extravagant Fifth Avenue Christmas display to LED lights which drastically reduced energy consumption to their ‘Green House — Home of Eco Smart Style’ online initiative where website visitors can shop for eco-friendly designer fashion, home furnishings and jewelry made from recycled metals, the company is putting efforts behind helping their affluent customers live responsibly.

Another interesting initiative for Saks is a new sales area just introduced in five of its stores called ‘The Beauty of Living Well.’ The sales areas are devoted to what Saks terms ‘natraceutical’ skin care products. What is intriguing about this new concept is that it is intended as a platform to expand into other healthful living products, including nutritional products and supplements.

My advice to luxury marketers is not to wait, but start to plan for green marketing initiatives that will connect with the priorities of their increasingly green-aware consumers. This trend isn’t going away. On the contrary, it will only grow and luxury consumers will expect their favorite luxe brands to go green along with them.

Unity Marketing’s Luxury Trend Report, “Green Marketing and the Luxury Consumers”, provides marketers data and ideas to plan their green marketing strategies

To find out more about the luxury trend report and to order a copy, click this link .

Tags: Fair Trade, Sustainability, Transparency, Change Agents, Ethics, Environment, Editorial by Marc Choyt
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INTRODUCTION:

This is the urgent action appeal referenced by Dr. Barrito in the previous post. Special thanks to Julia Caudros of the organization, CooperAcción for informing us of this injustice.

With great concern I have come to learn about the news that 35 Peruvians, defenders of human rights and of the environment, municipal authorities, legal, technical and leading advisers of communities and community rondas, have been legally accused of terrorism for expressing their ideas, defending their rights and promoting a Local Referendum so that the population could express, freely, their opinion on the development of mining activities in their area.

Since 2003 the mining company Majaz S.A., today Rio Blanco Copper S.A., (of the British company Monterrico Metals PLC, whose major shareholder is the Chinese Consortium Zijin – Xiamen Zijin Tongguan Investment Development Co. Ltd.) have been promoting the Mining Project Rio Blanco located in the districts of Ayavaca and Carmen de la Frontera in northern Peru.

As you may know last September 16, the Local Referendum was carried out in the districts of Ayavaca and Pacaipampa in the province of Ayavaca and in the district of Carmen de la Frontera in the province of Huancabamba, both located in the northern region of Piura. More than 50 per cent (17,976 voters) of the electorate of these three districts took part in this civic event and 97% of them expressed their rejection of mining activities in their territories.

The accusations of terrorism seeks to discredit those that exercise lawfully and peacefully the defense of rural communities’ rights; those that defend the moorlands and cloud forests where a mining project intends to develop but who choose for a model of development based on agriculture and eco-tourism. This act of accusations also seeks to intimidate the whole society for the mere fact of expressing their disagreement with certain politics that wishes to silence its citizens.

We consider these accusations to be an outrage against those that act within the boundaries of the law and exercise their civic rights that the Peruvian Constitution protects. We request the Government and the national authorities of Peru, take action in order to avoid the violation of rights and fundamental liberties, by rejecting the denunciation and reinstalling the Round Table of Dialogue, - paralyzed by the leave of the Cabinet President- and in this way seek a peaceful means to end the conflict in the area.

Join us in our act of solidarity!

How to help:

Send the letter to the electronic directions (addresses) that are indicated by copy to CooperAcción’s mail.

Send to:

Dr. Alan García Pérez
Presidente de la República del Perú
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza Pizarro, Jr. De la Unión s/n
Lima 1 – PERU (511) 311 4200 (511) 311 4711 secretariageneral@presidencia.gob.pe

Dr. Jorge Del Castillo Gálvez
Presidente del Consejo de Ministros
Av. Manco Cápac 879, Miraflores
Lima 18 – PERU (511) 610 9800 (511) 610 9680 mtalledo@pcm.gob.pe

Dra. Beatriz Merino
Defensora del Pueblo
Jr. Ucayali 388
Lima 1 - PERU (511) 426 78000 (511) 4267889 gbocanegra@defensoria.gob.pe
mlevano@defensoria.gob.pe

Dr. Luis Gonzáles Posada
Presidente del Congreso de la República
Plaza Bolívar s/n
Lima 1 – PERU (511) 311 7777 (511) 3117703 lgonzales@congreso.gob.pe

Ing. Juan Valdivia
Ministro de Energía y Minas
Av. Las Artes Sur 260, San Borja
Lima 41 – PERU (511) 475 0065
(511) 618 8700 (511) 224 4490 jvaldivia@minem.gob.pe

Dr. Luis Alva Castro
Ministro del Interior
Plaza 30 de Agosto s/n, San Isidro
Lima 27 – PERU (511) 225 0202
(511) 225 0402
(511) 225 7234 desmin@mininter.gob.pe

Copy to:
cooperaccion@cooperaccion.org.pe

If you wish more information on the case please see the following websites:
www.cooperaccion.org.pe

www.redmuqui.org.pe

www.minesandcommunities.org

Tags: Transparency, CSR, Sustainability, Environment, Toxins, Gold, Ethics, Mining by Marc Choyt
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The Manufacturing Group of the Madison Dialogue has determined principals and now begins the process of setting standards.

Catalina writes,

“We do not think the Madison Dialogue list should be developing standards. It should continue to do what it was set up to do, that is to serve as a forum for discussion, including feedback on standards that are currently being developed by standard setting organizations such as ARM for small scale mining and IRMA for large scale mining.”

She points out the necessity that this next process take place within a larger international community where all stakeholders are represented.

This post was on the Madison Dialogue list serve. Special thanks to Catalina for permission to reprint her post.

****************************************************

The MD list serve, meetings and working groups represent a great opportunity for discussion and debate on ethical sourcing, trading and manufacturing of minerals. The Association for Responsible Mining, ARM, joined the MD with an understanding that this was “a cross-sector initiative established to promote communication and collaboration among companies, civil society groups and others seeking to encourage –

Best practices,
Sustainable economic development,
- and verified sources of responsible gold, diamonds and other minerals”

Over the past weeks we have been concerned with the growing expectation on some of the working groups that somehow the Madison Dialogue is an appropriate space to develop standards and accompanying verification systems.

We do not think the Madison Dialogue list should be developing standards. It should continue to do what it was set up to do, that is to serve as a forum for discussion, including feedback on standards that are currently being developed by standard setting organizations such as ARM for small scale mining and IRMA for large scale mining.

The MD is not an organization; we believe it does not have the capacity or the governance structure to lead a legitimate standard setting process. We are of the view that organizations and institutions need to take responsibility for standards setting to ensure legitimacy and accountability.

We would like to invite you read the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards, which clearly describes procedures to ensure that standard-setting practices are credible and effective.

In very general terms, compliance with the code means:

The standard will not create unnecessary barriers to trade;
The standard-setting process is transparent and open to interested stakeholders;
The standard has clear objectives, and criteria that meet those objectives;
There is meaningful participation by those stakeholders that are directly affected by the implementation of the standard; and
There is a balance of input in the discussion and in the decision-making on the standard.

In accordance with this code, we believe the questions that one must ask in determining the appropriateness of a body to set standards and develop verification systems includes the following:

What are the procedures?
What is the decision making process?
Who will lead the consultation processes?
Who will respond to complains or questions?
Are the interested parties represented?
Are the miners represented?
How will we ensure the participation of interested groups who do not have access to Internet or who do not speak English?
Who will test the standards on the ground?
Who will implement them?

We would recommend that the Madison Dialogue might be a useful place to have this discussion and perhaps reach some agreements as to the appropriate methods and approaches to standard setting and implementation. We welcome this space for consultation, sharing information and discussion and will continue to participate under such philosophy.

Tags: CSR, Ethical Initiatives, Sustainability, Best Practices, Transparency, Jewelry Manufacturing, Ethics, Change Agents, Madison Dialogue by Marc Choyt
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Senior diamond editor for the JCK Magazine, Robert Bates, writes an interesting post about diamond cutting in China after his recent visit there. I have been grateful to Rob’s support of my work and for keeping in touch with me over the past few months.

Here’s Rob’s post:

http://www.jckonline.com/blog/870000287/post/370026837.html

Tags: Best Practices, CSR, Ethical Initiatives, Transparency, Environment, Diamonds, Jewelry Manufacturing, Ethics, Editorial by Marc Choyt
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Introduction:

John Hardy Jewelry has always been deeply rooted in environmental responsibility as well as an abiding love of Bali. Last year, John and Cynthia sold the company and immediately started a visionary international school, called Green School, located between Ubud and Denpassar in Bali. My brother, Brad Choyt, was hired as Green School’s Director.

[Read more →]

Tags: Transparency, CSR, Change Agents, Environment, Interviews, Ethics, Editorial by admin
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This document is a result of a dialog between members of the Madison Dialogue manufacturing group. This current document is the revised version of a previous principle document. You can read the actual dialogs

Principles represent the broad overarching ethos.

Our next step will be to create standards. A standards document will allow us

[Read more →]

Tags: Ethical Initiatives, Fair Trade, Sustainability, CSR, Transparency, Jewelry Manufacturing, Ethics, Change Agents, Madison Dialogue by Marc Choyt
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The Manufacturing Committee is developing fair trade standards for international manufacturing.

The first part of this process is the development of broad, overarching principles. From that, specific standards can be developed.

In this dialogue, minimally edited, participants discuss the issue of child labor principles based on

[Read more →]

Tags: CSR, Ethical Initiatives, Fair Trade, Sustainability, Best Practices, Transparency, Jewelry Manufacturing, Ethics, Environment, Change Agents, Madison Dialogue by Marc Choyt
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The Manufacturing Committee is developing fair trade standards for international manufacturing.

The first part of this process is the development of broad, overarching principals. From that, specific standards can be developed.

In this dialog, minimally edited, participants discuss the issue of contaminations issues based on

[Read more →]

Tags: Ethical Initiatives, CSR, Fair Trade, Sustainability, Resources & Suppliers, Transparency, Change Agents, Jewelry Manufacturing, Ethics, Toxins, Environment, Madison Dialogue by Marc Choyt
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This was posted on the Madison Dialogue List Serve in response to Estelle Levin’s previous scheme posted earlier. When Greg, (see his earlier interview on this blog) who is one of the leading figures behind the Association of Responsible Mining, states, “Until we have 100% traceability and transparency in our industry, CSR will always be green washing of the worst kind,” this is a great example of the passion of a 4th stage visionary social entrepreneur.

The short quote is below:

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Tags: Fair Trade, Sustainability, CSR, Transparency, Ethics, Change Agents, Madison Dialogue by Marc Choyt
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