With fewer than nine weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the second of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Responsible Sourcing Commission, headed by Philip Olden, the report provides an overview of the first Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, which was approved in January of this year.

With fewer than 10 weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the first of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Marketing & Education Commission, headed by Jonathan Kendall, the report returns to what has been defined as the next great jewellery-consuming group, Generation Z, providing a breakdown of what the industry needs to consider if it is to ensure that jewellery remains a favoured purchase.

With members of the jewellery and gemstone sectors under growing pressure to actively demonstrate that they are conducting their businesses in a sustainable manner, including verifying that the items they purchase, process and sell have been sourced responsibly, a range of technological solutions are currently being developed to help them comply with the due diligence requirements.

All participants in the jewellery and gemstone value chain will need to come to terms with the fact that basic due diligence demonstrating that they are sourcing their supply responsibly is becoming is a regular requirement for doing business, said Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO, speaking last week in Mumbai. At the same time, he added, the systems being developed must be inclusive, meaning that they cannot discriminate against ethical players because of their size or financial capacity.

Speaking at a meeting of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which took place during the United Nation’s 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has advocated for the position of small and medium-sized enterprises. Sustainable economies rely on the contribution of SMEs, he said, but too often they find themselves operating at a severe disadvantage when compared to larger companies.

Properly managed pearl farms offer real opportunities to individuals and communities living on small islands in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, both from an economic perspective and in terms of protecting the marine environment, said Tiffany Stevens, President of CIBJO’s Ethics Commission during the 2019 Global Multi-Stakeholder SIDS Partnership Dialogue, which was held at the United Nations in New York on July 10.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 7th European Gemmological Symposium in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, on May 25, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri called on the world’s gemmological community to participate through CIBJO in the creation of harmonised sets of grading standards, practices and nomenclature, as part of an international effort to ensure the integrity of the jewellery market and to maintain consumer confidence.

CIBJO’s 2019 annual congress will take place in Manama, the capital of the Kingdom of Bahrain, from November 18 to November 20, with pre-congress meetings beginning on November 16. It is being organised by DANAT, the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones. The venue for the event is the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay.

CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, and the Coloured Gemstone Working Group (CGWG) facilitated by the Dragonfly Initiative (TDI) have announced a new collaboration to strengthen and disseminate tools and resources for the responsible sourcing of coloured gemstones, to support a transparent, sustainable and vibrant coloured gemstone industry.

Speaking in Paris today to a plenary session of the 13th Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has delineated a comprehensive plan for promoting responsible sourcing practices throughout the jewellery, gemstone and precious metals sectors, which includes the release this past January of CIBJO’s new Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, and an online platform that will provide a set of dedicated due diligence tools free of charge to the industry.