Partnering for a Sustainable Future
The Managing Director of North America for the Natural Diamond Council, Kristina Buckley Kayel, discussed with Naseem Lahri, Managing Director of Lucara Botswana, how to create a sustainable future for all.
In this new era of uncertainty and global change, collaboration is central to ensuring that all businesses are sustainable and create positive legacies.
Earlier this month, we took part in the virtual WWD Culture Conference: Sustainability & the Human Element. We joined other organizations like Kering, Patagonia, Timberland and P&G Beauty in discussing topics from redesigning human value into the entire value chain and what it means to be sustainable, to crafting tomorrow’s luxury.
The Managing Director of North America for the Natural Diamond Council, Kristina Buckley Kayel, discussed with Naseem Lahri, Managing Director of Lucara Botswana, how to create a sustainable future for all. What clearly came out from their conversation is that working in partnership with government and local communities is the way forward. And such collaborations can leave an incredible legacy. Natural diamonds have built schools, hospitals, roads, and wildlife reserves. They have educated children and provided women with skills development and career opportunities which were previously never accessible. In some cases, such as Botswana, the diamond industry has helped build nations.
Speaking first-hand about the impact of diamonds in her home country of Botswana, Naseem Lahri highlighted the importance of collaboration to promote skills for the future and sustainable livelihoods:
“Lucara Botswana is working on food security projects – something that is key for the world right now. We have a long-standing partnership with the local community and with them developed a community farm. What happened with Covid-19 was quite interesting, people looked to the farm to produce food for them. Our borders were closed and so we couldn’t get produce from outside the country. It made it important and critical for this particular farm to start producing food for the nation. Right now, the community actually calls their farm the ‘Green Diamonds’ because it is something that is bringing income for them and has reduced malnutrition levels in the area, and also reduced poverty in the area.”
Watch their discussion here.
