Only when the movie Blood Diamond was released in 2006 the world got to know about the gory politics involved in the illegal diamond trade in certain African countries. The film depicts how diamonds are mined in war regions and the money earned through the trade is used to procure arms and support war.
The world woke up to this gruesome fact. Reforms were demanded and some changes were guaranteed. How many would believe me if I said that like blood diamonds our mobile phones are also blood smeared. I don’t think even one per cent of mobile users are aware that the mobiles we buy are drenched in blood, though not literally. To understand this reality we need to know what is happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of the countries known for great mineral reserves. Apart from gold, diamond, tin and copper, it is blessed with coltan – a shortened version of columbite-tantalite. This ore is refined and used in the manufacture of laptops, video game consoles, television screens and mobile phones. It is coltan’s heat-resisting property that makes it a necessity in most electronic equipment. Without an alternative and the ever-increasing demand for electronic gadgets, especially mobile phones, colton is in high demand.
You may wonder what is wrong in using a mineral for manufacturing electronic devices. The Congo is plagued by civil war and the problem is in the mining of coltan. Legal and illegal mining thrive in the country. It is no secret that most of the mines are owned by rebels and child labour is not uncommon. More importantly, the money raised by selling coltan is used to buy arms and ammunition. Another dimension to this is that people who were into farming are now involved in mining, and farming is no longer a profession.
The story does not stop here. It gets uglier. The mining spot is in the only habitat of the mountain gorilla. Though their habitat is protected the mining goes on unabated. Biega National Park, which is a protected area, has lost half of its gorilla population due to this. It is not only habitat loss that threatens these eastern lowland gorillas. When miners encounter gorillas during mining they kill the animals and sell them as ‘bush meat’. Reports indicate that we have lost 90 per cent of the wild population of gorillas. International organisations like the UN have studied this chaotic situation and are making all efforts to bring about some change.
Now some firms that use coltan are request their suppliers to certify that the coltan they supply is from legally approved mines. Even the world’s leading producer of tantalum capacitors, Kemet, ensures that the mineral it buys is from legitimate sources. As consumers shouldn’t we also be responsible?
Mobile phones are no longer considered a gadget for communication. I assume it is more of a status symbol and money is not much of a criterion. Mobile phone manufacturers also lure customers with their payback offers, EMIs and buy-one-get-one-free offers. The end result is a buying spree.
People buy phones not because the one they have needs repair but to follow the fad. With rapid s in technology it is said that the average life span of a mobile phone is just under 14 months. So you can imagine the number of phones that are discarded. And all these phones end up in landfills and leak potentially hazardous chemicals like antimony, arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead and zinc. In the US alone more than 100 million phones are discarded every year.
To make people aware of the connection between mountain gorillas and mobile phones, several zoos have started a recycling programme in collaboration with Eco-cell – a cell phone-recycling firm. Of course recycling is one way of reducing the negative impact on our eco system, but we need to go beyond that.
Buying mobile phones only when there is a need is one way of helping the mountain gorillas and saving their habitat. The next would be to spread the message. Tell people how each cell phone they buy is connected to the survival of an endangered species. Let us not allow our vanity to kill another life, that also has every right to live.