With the wearing of bling comes great responsibility – and when it comes to the provenance of gems, it's an ethical minefield

Responsible bling is all about provenance. With the wearing of jewellery comes great responsibility. What has the famously secretive industry done to help you make the right choices? Well, many dealers and retailers now abide by the Kimberley Process code. This supposedly protects you from unwittingly wearing conflict or blood stones. Earlier this year the code banned the sale of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange mines due to dreadful conditions and number of fatalities. Burmese rubies are also banned via international sanctions, but jewellers tell me they still see them all the time. "Ethical" diamonds tend to come from countries like Canada or Australia. If you've got deep pockets you can cover yourself in pink "ethical" diamonds from the Australian Rio Tinto Argyle mines.

Gold is no shining ethical example either. Its production is synonymous with intense poverty and ecological destruction (mining uses huge quantities of cyanide). New Fairtrade and Fairmined gold standards guarantee the 100 million informal miners on small-scale mines a proper price and set an ecological standard.

Progressive jewellers are ahead of the game. Fairtrade jewellers made.uk.com recycles glass and tin in Kenyan workshops and uncommonlybeautiful.com raises reclaimed plastic to the status of a precious metal. Who says diamonds are forever?





If you have any ethical questions, email lucy.siegle@observer.co.uk