The spread of microplastics in the world’s oceans will erode the quality of pearl molluscs and nacre if unchecked, potentially limiting the supply of higher quality natural and cultured pearls in the longer term, said Kenneth Scarratt, President of the CIBJO Pearl Commission, which met on October 4 at the congress taking place in Jaipur, India.

The second day of the 2023 CIBJO Congress in Jaipur, India, featured a hybrid session chaired from Hong Kong, delivered by a working group that is investigating a branding and market development strategy for what is referred to as Fei Cui, which includes the development of an international standard for identifying and describing the material.

Standards are being developed at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to control the quality of batches of small diamonds to protect consumer interests.

The session of the CIBJO Diamond Commission on October 4, the second day of this year’s CIBJO Congress, focused largely on the currently complicated state of the natural diamond market.

Education and training will be key to helping artisanal gemstone diggers achieve better lives and livelihoods, a panel at the CIBJO Congress 2023 has heard. The session featured a discussion about future steps that need to be taken to bring in more effective responsible sourcing in the coloured gemstone industry.

Building partnerships and new multi-stakeholder initiatives will be key towards creating a more sustainable future in the global jewellery industry, senior jewellery brand executives said in a panel discussion on the first day of the CIBJO Congress in Jaipur, India.

The global trade has embraced a homogeneous declaration of all coloured gemstone treatments, which is now incorporated into the CIBJO Coloured Stone Blue Books, said Emmanuel Piat, Vice President of the Coloured Stone Commission, who chaired the session of the body on October 4, the second day of the 2023 CIBJO Congress.

Imparting education about intellectual property (IP) law can protect careers of members of the jewellery industry including designers, a panel heard. The discussion took part on October 3, 2023, during the Ethics Commission session at the CIBJO Congress.

Gemfields, a leading industrial miner of rubies and emeralds in Mozambique and in Zambia, called for a focus by downstream market players on the “mine of origin” rather than country of origin in order to boost traceability.

Senior jewellery industry leaders, in a panel discussion conducted on the opening day of the 2023 CIBJO Congress in Jaipur, India, called for the delivery of more freely available data and better education by jewellery industry bodies to foster best practices.