Better Business
October 2006
Banner photo: Partially Harvested Corn Field/corbis
Seeing the Links
You may not be aware that a little known commodity used in your mobile phone is contributing to the hunting and killing of Congolese eastern lowland gorillas.
Columbite-tantalite or coltan is an ore of the metallic element tantalum, found mostly in Africa, specifically the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Used in manufacturing electronic components, it is capable of storing and slowly releasing an electrical charge vital in ever-smaller portable electronic equipment. Since 2000, rapid growth of the mobile phone market and demand for the latest PlayStations has sent the price of tantalum soaring from $40 a pound to $500 a pound, before settling to $120 a pound in early 2001, sparking the biggest economic revitalization the DRC has ever seen.
Unlike many ores, coltan can be mined by anyone with a shovel. The coltan rush was disastrous for Kahuzi Biega National Park, a World Heritage Site, that had an influx of up to 15,000 miners practically overnight. To feed the mining parties, gorillas, chimpanzees and even elephants have been hunted, with the eastern lowland gorilla being hardest hit. The population has halved since the mining began.
The UN documented this impending disaster in its Panel of Experts report, underlining investigations also under way by NGOs such as Fauna and Flora International, the World Wildlife Fund, WorldWatch, Human Rights Watch and the Wildlife Conservation Society. These organizations have campaigned vigorously for a strictly monitored, transparent supply chain, a mining code for the DRC, and further regulation to support sustainably mined coltan. The answer is a difficult one: it has been suggested that an outright ban of DRC coltan will result in driving control of the trade further into illegitimate hands. It would also negate the positive effect the price of tantalum is having on the local community.
The outcome of the pressure campaign has seen multinational companies which use coltan in their products becoming the target of campaigns to manufacture "gorilla-friendly" products. Companies have responded by instituting supply chain policies and in turn demanding standards from their suppliers, and by using coltan sources from Australia instead.
Transparency
Such supply chain policies are an important first step, and should not be overlooked. But to engender trust among consumers and NGOs alike, technology companies need to create real supply-chain transparency. To do so, they need only look to similar ethical supply chain models such as that of Starbucks, which publishes detailed information on its suppliers, and actively supports coffee farmers by paying higher prices for coffee held to its Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) standards and by getting involved on the ground by opening Farmer Support Centers in the developing nations that supply the coffee beans. To ensure the coffee has been harvested in an ethical manner, wage and salary information is provided, and payments up and down the supply chain are documented. Fair Trade coffee has become a broadly known label, and there is no reason that "Fair Trade coltan" could not follow this same route.
No regulation prevents retail stores from purchasing furniture made from protected developing world forests, but multinational companies with brands worth protecting insist upon certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes responsible forest management. Companies such as Gap and Nike have even published detailed reports of labor standard violations in developing world sourcing countries, from fire hazards to evidence of child labor, opening themselves up to criticism, and at the same time building trust with the same NGOs that have criticized them in the past.
Because of NGO, media and consumer scrutiny of formerly opaque supply chains, large multinational brands are becoming increasingly more vulnerable to more educated, conscientious consumer complaints and group pressure campaigns. The roots of this can be seen in broader access to information from around the globe, from the Internet to individual blogs and research tools, such as Google, which give concerned citizens access to information. Low-budget movies and documentaries have thrust difficult-to-digest subjects such as climate change onto the radar screen, and a webcast from Leonardo DiCaprio and Arthur C. Clarke has attempted to do the same for the coltan issue in the DRC.
Multinational corporate brands have always been quick to respond to public opinion, however, and many are responding with their own innovative techniques, such as McDonald's making use of podcasts to get their supply chain message out.
Increasingly, the general public is making the link between the product and the source of the materials with which it is made and making conscientious choices based upon this information. Early incidents such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill produced a boycott of Exxon, and Nike's earlier sweatshop reputation made consumers reluctant to buy its sneakers. This legacy and its lessons have been imprinted upon second-generation companies such as Timberland and Whole Foods, which have ensured that their sustainable development policies are a major part of their brand through the publication of corporate responsibility reports, blogs, webcasts and other communication techniques, and have used this platform to proactively push for change.
Meanwhile, this year two large new nature reserves have been created in the DRC to form a unique biodiversity site containing several endangered species, including eastern lowland gorillas. Local communities are responsible for protecting the reserves, while local economies are being developed in clearly defined areas outside the reserves. Our choices and our voices can make difference.
Philippa Moore works at American University Washington College of Law, and has consulted on issues of corporate responsibility for Nike, Ford, Chevron and other Fortune 500 companies. She helps edit "Sustainable Development Law and Policy."
