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Diamond mining has long been a controversial topic, given its negative consequences not only for society but also for the environment. As history shows, they were not called ‘blood’ for nothing, because their search destroyed many parts of the world, especially Africa. There are some ways in which Africa and other countries are doing this to prevent the mining of blood diamonds, but this process still hurts countless people for a simple stone. Mining for blood diamonds is an illegal crime, bringing so much pain to Africa.
Diamonds were discovered in Africa right as Brazilian mining declined. Rhodes incorporated De Beers in 1888 as a means to fund his dream of an Anglicised Africa, and his company took charge of the industry where the Portuguese left off, eventually controlling over 90 percent of the South African mines. Since the 1990s West Africa has been destroyed by a conflict between the national government and different rebel groups, all wanting control over natural resources. The natural resource everyone wanted was diamonds. But these diamonds were not just called regular diamonds, they became known as blood diamonds. Another name for these diamonds is ‘conflict diamonds’, because of all the war and fighting, as well as inhumane activities done to retrieve these stones.
One of the worst aspects about these diamonds, in my opinion, is that the process of mining them so quickly destroys the natural resources of Africa. When someone mines for diamonds, they must dig extremely deep and dig in many different areas. The people also used bombs and other devices to get deeper into the soil. And after the diamonds are all taken from the field, the people do not take the time to reverse what they did to the environment. Because of poor planning and no regulation on what miners can and cannot do, there have been many problems throughout Africa’s environment. For example, Angola’s diamond industry has caused the environment to have many problems. The miners have destroyed streams from exploitation. Diamond miners have re-routed rivers and constructed dams to expose riverbeds for mining, with disastrous effects on fish and wildlife.
One of the biggest places where mining was destroyed was in the Kono district of eastern Sierra Leone. Thousands and thousands of pits have been left from the mining. Wildlife has vanished, topsoil has eroded, and land once suitable for farming is now a desolate moonscape. The mining pits have created a public health disaster as well. When the pits fill with stagnant rainwater, they become infested with mosquitoes, spreading malaria and other water-borne diseases. What were once farming villages and beautiful landscapes soon turned into blood baths. Sierra Leone was once a beautiful and lushes’ area, with many natural resources to offer to its people. But now most of it is a wasteland.
Diamond mining has been a problem all over the world for many years. These ‘blood’ diamonds and the search for them have destroyed many parts of the Earth, especially Africa. Africa’s natural resources have been completely abused and there is not much left to be proud of. There are things being done to help, but it is just so hard to actually regulate what comes in and out of Africa and how legal it actually is. Africa has been destroyed because of blood diamonds and it is still counting today.
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