Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2122/10627
Authors: Di Capua, Giuseppe* 
Peppoloni, Silvia* 
Bobrowsky, Peter* 
Title: The Cape Town Statement on Geoethics
Journal: Annals of Geophysics 
Series/Report no.: Fast Track 7/60(2017)
Publisher: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
Issue Date: Oct-2017
DOI: 10.4401/ag-7553
URL: http://www.geoethics.org/geoethics-ag2017
http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/7553/6811
Keywords: geoethics
Cape Town
responsibility
research integrity
geoethical promise
geosciences
Subject ClassificationEducational, History of Science, Public Issues
05.09. Miscellaneous 
Abstract: Recently the interest by geoscientists in (geo)ethical aspects of geoscience knowledge, education, research, practice and communication has grown considerably. Today the topic of geoethics has gained a significant visibility within the scientific community. The IAPG – International Association for Promoting Geoethics (http://www.geoethics.org), founded in 2012, has worked to widen the discussion and create awareness about issues of ethics as applied to the geosciences. Thanks to continuous voluntary work, the respectful exchange, and fruitful sharing of ideas, the IAPG community has produced a conceptual substratum on which to base the future development of geoethics, by clarifying the meaning of the word “geoethics”, formalizing its definition, and better identifying a framework of reference values on which the geoscience community can base more effective codes of conduct and guidance. The members of the IAPG community have published various books and articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and organized numerous scientific sessions to bring geoethics to the most important geoscience conferences. Geoethical issues have been also included in the European project ENVRI-Plus, which is dedicated to the environmental and solid Earth research infrastructures. The tangible result of these efforts is that, now, many prestigious geoscience organizations recognize geoethics as a fundamental issue, worthy of attention. This result was confirmed by the high quality of content and the large participation of scientists in the six technical sessions and a panel session on geoethics organized by IAPG at the 35th IGC – International Geological Congress, held in 2016 in Cape Town (South Africa). Largely successful due to the cooperative work of different geoscience organizations (IUGS-TGGP – Task Group on Global Geoscience Professionalism; GSL - Geological Society of London; EFG - European Federation of Geologists; EGS - EuroGeoSurveys; AGI – American Geosciences Institute; AGU – American Geophysical Union, and AAWG – African Association of Women in Geosciences). The IAPG considers the 35th IGC as the scientific event that opened a new phase for furthering the concept of geoethics. In order to mark this milestone, the "Cape Town Statement on Geoethics" (CTSG) was tabled by the IAPG and reviewed in an international effort. It shall focus the attention of geoscientists on the development of shared values, policies, guidelines, strategies and tools, with the long-range goal of fostering the regular adoption of ethical values and practices within the geoscience community. The document summarizes the values, concepts, and contents developed by IAPG so far, providing a perspective for the future development of geoethical thinking. This paper addresses in detail the content of the “Cape Town Statement on Geoethics”, which is now supported officially by several geoscience organizations.
Appears in Collections:Article published / in press

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat
7553-18634-1-PB_Di Capua et al.pdfMain article127.17 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record

WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations 20

10
checked on Feb 10, 2021

Page view(s)

211
checked on Mar 27, 2024

Download(s)

53
checked on Mar 27, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric