Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

getting it done 267Advocacy groups and consumer watchdogs also monitor the activitiesof companies and the ethical standing of their products; thesegroups have some degree of influence on consumption patterns throughconsumer information campaigns and direct action. Targets of consumerboycotts have included banks alleged to be funding scientificresearch involving vivisection, oil companies perceived as having poorenvironmental records, and clothing manufacturers accused of exploitingworkers in the developing world. Consumers, it is argued, wanttheir preferred brands to reflect their social values, often promptingcompanies to adapt business practices and to adopt public relationscountermeasures, including so-called “greenwash.” 58 The threat of aconsumer boycott of diamonds was a critical factor in motivating thediamond industry and the governments of producing countries tochange their public policies and to engage in the Kimberley process; thisdemonstrates the effectiveness of a threat of consumer pressure.Company Practices: The Case of Coltan. Companies involved inthe extraction and trade of coltan in eastern Democratic Republic ofCongo have come under pressure to stop “fueling the war” throughnongovernmental organization campaigning, nonregulatory governmentalpressure, and naming and shaming from UN expert panels. UNexpert panels reporting on the illegal exploitation of natural resourcesin the Democratic Republic of Congo named several companies directlyor indirectly supporting rebel groups and their regional allies in theeastern part of the country. Much of the media attention also focusedon the killing of endangered gorillas and environmental degradation bycoltan diggers and militias operating in national parks.The Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center reacted by callingon its member companies around the world “not to purchase rawmaterials from illegal or illegitimate sources . . . [and] to take greatcare in making purchases in the region of the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo [since] trade which causes harm, or threatens to causeharm, to local populations, to animals, or to the environment is notacceptable.” 59 The world’s largest manufacturer of tantalum capacitorsinformed its coltan suppliers about these policies and asked themto certify that they acted accordingly, although the company recognizedthat it could not trace the origin from the product itself. 60 Theworld’s second-largest processor of coltan also declared—albeit in themidst of a glutted market—that it would not buy coltan from theGreat Lakes region (Harden 2001). The Electronics Components,Assemblies, and Materials Association urged its members to avoidtantalum mined in environmentally protected areas of the DemocraticRepublic of Congo. Many electronics companies publicly rejected the