Boko ties diamond demand to 20,000 Okavango community members
Botswana's president spoke in New York on 23 September at a De Beers and National Geographic event. He announced a second phase for Okavango Eternal, the partnership now in year five of ten.
By The Diamonds Desk
What changed
Botswana pitches conservation. President Duma Boko told a De Beers and National Geographic event in New York that buying natural diamonds funds Okavango conservation. He announced a second phase for the Okavango Eternal partnership.
What it means
- If you sell provenance: Boko's claim is specific and checkable. He named the Angolan highlands, the Okavango source waters and more than 20,000 community members.
- If you follow the De Beers sale: Botswana holds 15% of the company and its president was on a De Beers stage in New York.
- What this is not: A funding figure. No money was attached to phase two at the event, and no conservation spend per carat was published.
Key figures
| Community members namedBoko's own figure | 20,000+ |
|---|---|
| Botswana's stake in De Beersduring the sale process | 15% |
| Okavango Eternalstarted 2021 | Year 5 of 10 |
| Governments in phase twoAngola, Namibia, Botswana | 3 |
Source: JCK's report of the De Beers and National Geographic Society event in New York, 23 September 2026, published 24 September
Phase two names three aims
Three strands were listed. Phase two covers community-led livelihoods, cross-border tourism and habitat protection, across Angola, Namibia and Botswana.
The clock is halfway. Okavango Eternal began in 2021 on a ten-year term. This is its fifth year, so half the term remains.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | De Beers and National Geographic Society, New York, 23 September |
| Partnership | Okavango Eternal, started 2021, ten-year term |
| Phase two focus | Community livelihoods, cross-border tourism, habitat protection |
| Governments named | Angola, Namibia, Botswana |
| Botswana's De Beers stake | 15% |
| Community members cited | More than 20,000, Boko's figure |
| Also on the platform | Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, minister of mines and energy; Dr Steve Boyes |
| Money attached to phase two | None published |
Notes on this table
Whose figures these are. the 20,000 community members and the 15% stake are as reported by JCK, the first inside a direct quotation from Boko and the second as JCK's own description of Botswana's shareholding. Neither was independently confirmed at a Botswana government or De Beers document in this run, and that is the disclosed limit on both.
The arithmetic on the term. Okavango Eternal is described as a 10-year partnership started in 2021 and the event is described as celebrating its fifth year; 2021 plus five reaches 2026, so the two statements agree and the term is half run.
What the report does not carry. no budget for phase two, no spend per carat, no tonnage or carat figure, and no dated milestone for any of the three strands.
The De Beers sale. this article states that a sale process is running and that Botswana holds 15%; it makes no claim about the outcome, the bidders or the valuation, all of which Carat Capital has covered separately and none of which was advanced at this event.
Named but not quoted. Dr Steve Boyes is identified by JCK as founder of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project.
The sale sits behind the speech
A stake matters. Botswana owns 15% of De Beers while the sale of the company is running, and Boko spoke from a De Beers platform.
Two calendars overlapped. The appearance fell in the same week as Climate Week NYC and the UN General Assembly.
The water starts in Angola
The river crosses borders. Rainfall in Angola feeds the system, which runs through Namibia before reaching the Delta in Botswana.
A report measured it. De Beers' 2025 sustainability report, covered here on 23 September, credited Okavango Eternal with supporting Angola's first Ramsar wetland.
What to watch
- UndatedA budget or dated milestone for phase two, neither of which was published at the event.
- Through 2026The De Beers sale process, in which Botswana's 15% carries a right to match an external offer as Carat Capital has reported.
- 2031The end of Okavango Eternal's stated ten-year term, counted from its 2021 start.
The story so far
Go deeper
Corrections
Corrected 26 September 2026. As published on 25 September this article's method section said that the single quotation used was nine words from Boko as JCK records him. No quotation from Boko, of nine words or of any length, appears anywhere in this article; his words are carried only as paraphrase. The sentence is rewritten above to say so, and the quote count for this piece is zero. The fault was a claim about this article's own sourcing method, not about a fact in it: every figure printed here - more than 20,000 community members, Botswana's 15% stake in De Beers, and the fifth year of a ten-year term - was correct as published, traces to the cited JCK report of 24 September 2026, and is unchanged. This paper's standards desk found the fault on 25 September 2026 and it is corrected here the next morning.
What would change this call
A budget. Phase two is a stated intention with three named strands and no money against it; a published figure could make the conservation-financing claim measurable, or show it to be smaller than the framing implies. A change in Botswana's shareholding through the sale would also change the standing from which this case is being made.
A provenance claim is a marketing instrument, not an audited one
When a producing state says that buying a stone funds conservation, the claim links two things that are measured on different books: retail demand for polished goods, and a philanthropic or partnership budget set by a company and a nonprofit. Nothing in a public statement of that shape establishes how much of a given retail price reaches a given river. That is not a reason to dismiss it, because the named objects are real and checkable - a Ramsar designation exists or it does not, acres under management are counted, a partnership has a term - but it is the reason this paper prints the named objects and not the implied chain. De Beers' own sustainability reporting is where the measurable version of this claim lives, and it publishes acres and designations rather than a per-carat contribution. Until a phase-two budget is published, the conservation-financing sentence is a stated position and the acreage and designations are the evidence.
Method
JCK's page was fetched directly: https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/botswana-natural-diamonds-okavango/, 200, 111,463 bytes, plain extractable body text, byline "By Sam Cooley", dated 24 September 2026. The event date comes from that body's own dateline, "Speaking Wednesday, Sept. 23, in New York City at a De Beers and National Geographic Society event", so the publication date and the event date are one day apart and both are printed here rather than merged. No direct quotation is used anywhere in this article. Boko's words reach this page only as paraphrase with his name attached, including the longer quotation in JCK's report that names the Angolan highlands and the 20,000 community members, whose figures are attributed to him. The archive was checked by opening every hit rather than counting them. "Duma Boko" returns three files: all three were opened and all three are De Beers sale-process stories from July - Penny's bid, Angola's bid, and Gaborone's response - none of which reports this speech or this partnership announcement. "Okavango" returns four articles plus the record index, and each was opened: Messika's Okavango Blue stone in a couture piece; the Okavango Diamond Company's Dubai tender arrangement; Yoram Dvash taking the Okavango Diamond Company chair; and De Beers' 2025 sustainability report, which is the one genuine overlap. That report names Okavango Eternal as background on the 2021 partnership and on Angola's first Ramsar wetland; it covers the 2025 reporting year and it does not contain this New York event, this phase-two announcement or any statement by Boko. Under the Period Rule that is the same partnership on a different period and a different event, so the verdict is advanced rather than repeat, and that prior article is cited here as a source rather than treated as a duplicate. Neither the 15% stake nor the 20,000 figure was re-verified at a Botswana government or De Beers primary in this run, and the table says so on its own face. No claim is made here about the state of the De Beers sale beyond that a process is running, which this paper has documented separately.