Pearls are an organic product of animals that live in lakes, rivers and seas all around the world which gives them an intrinsic link with the natural environment. Oysters are sometimes referred to as the canaries of the sea because, like the canary’s used by miners years ago, they’re the first ones to suffer if there’s anything wrong with their environment.

The molluscs which grow our pearls are ancient organisms that haven’t changed much for millions of years, they therefore find it difficult to cope with changes such as pollution. Even tiny levels of impurities in the water will upset the molluscs enough to jeopardise the quality of the pearls they make. Slightly higher levels of pollution and entire farms can be lost.

Since the industrial revolution this has had a massive impact on the world’s natural oyster beds. For example the oysters that used to inhabit the Persian Gulf have been pretty much wiped out by our search for oil. Lake Biwa in Japan was the birth place of the cultured Freshwater pearl, but within 50 years pollution that leached into the water from surrounding farms and the global industrial centre of Kyoto killed off the pearl producing mussels.

It started as a very sad story with ancient oyster beds dying out all over the world, but the sensitivity of pearl growing oysters has forced us to clean up our act. Pearl farmers go to great lengths to protect their stock. They make sure that no pollution is allowed in the water, they stop indiscriminate fishing methods such as cyanide or dynamite fishing which are common in South East Asian countries. They even make sure that the land near their farm is kept clean because any chemicals would find their way into the water eventually.

Because better, more valuable pearls are grown in cleaner water pearl farming places a significant monetary value on the maintenance of a clean, natural environment. If the farmers want to grow good quality pearls, they have to keep the water clean, which in turn gives us areas of outstanding natural beauty. Most agricultural or industrial processes damage the natural environment but pearl farming actively protects it because it’s in its financial interest to do so.

We love pearl farming, it produces our beautiful pearls and helps to protects the environment at the same time. The problem is that despite all the work the farmers do to look after their pearl growing oysters, they’re under threat from climate change. It’s not just pollution that oysters are sensitive to, but also changes in temperature. It’s believed that an average increase of just 0.3ºC would be fatal to the majority of oysters.

Pearl farmers are already seeing the negative effects of climate change as rising seawater levels make some of the more remote pearl farms uninhabitable. For example a helipad that that was built by one of our suppliers less than 5 years ago is now underwater, making transport to and from the island difficult.

The problem had been recognised by a number of pearl industry leaders, such as Martin Coeroli, President of the CIBJO Pearl Commission who has said that ‘Climate Change is the greatest threat to pearl farming’. Click below for a link to a video featuring both Mr Coeroli from Perles de Tahiti and Jacques Branellec, Managing Director of Jewelmer to hear what two of our foremost pearl farmers have to say on the subject.

Rather than just sit and complain about climate change we decided to do something about it by teaming up with the CarbonNeutral Company who are one of the world’s leading carbon reduction companies. With KPMG auditing our results, they helped us calculate the carbon footprint of our pearls, which means the amount of CO2 that is produced by the growth and transport of our pearls from their farms to our customers. We then fund green energy projects which offset this carbon footprint. For example we have supported the development of a hydroelectric plant in one of the Chinese rivers in which our Freshwater pearls grow. This plant will provide cheap, green energy to the region’s developing communities.

We’re very proud of our environmental credentials and hope that they help promote and therefore protect the wonderfully positive process that is pearl farming. If you would like to know more about this then please do get in touch we’d love to hear from you.