Botswana and diamond dependency
5 April 2009
“Botswana is on borrowed time if it does not wean itself off its diamond dependency.”
“Between 1966 and 1997 Botswana recorded an average annual growth rate of 9.2 percent, the highest in the world, but at the price of being the world’s most diamond-dependent economy.”
These are quotes from an article posted to World News Journal discussing the impact of the diamond industry on sustainable development in Botswana. While the industry is responsible for providing jobs and funding education and health care, is the country’s growth, which is largely a result of the diamond indutry, really sustainable? And do the positive impacts of the industry out weigh the negative?
