What's news about socio-hydrogeology

by Enrico Cameron*

* National Coalition of Independent Scholars

Enrico Cameron

Groundwater is the most extracted raw material (estimated withdrawal around 1000 km3/year) (Margat and Van der Gun, 2013) and it delivers a wealth of ecosystem services, that is benefits that people obtain from ecosystems for free and can be used by humankind to guarantee and increase well-being (Daily, 1997; MA, 2005). Among these services the provision of water for human use and consumption, water storage, contaminant processing, nutrient cycling and the support of fisheries, wildlife, biodiversity and tourism. The so-called groundwater dependent ecosystems, also, rely upon groundwater for their continued existence.

In many parts of the world the quality and quantity of groundwater, and thus its ability to provide the aforesaid ecosystem services, are compromised or under threat because of anthropogenic drivers such as the release of chemicals into the environment (from agriculture, industrial processes and waste deposition), over-abstraction and alterations to the water cycle that are both local – induced for instance by modifications to the land cover - and global due to human related climate changes. Moreover, a fair access to adequate, safe and clean water (including groundwater) is hampered for billions of people for reasons that involve technical, political, economic and cultural aspects of different societies and groups as well as, often, inequalities stemming from power and gender disparities. The objective of the emerging discipline of socio-hydrogeology is to comprehend and assess the interaction between people and groundwater in order to help understanding and tackling these problems. Socio-hydrogeology seeks to integrate, in a structured way, the classical hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical assessments with social, behavioural and cognitive ones (Re, 2021) so as to investigate the reciprocal influence between individuals and communities one the one side and groundwater on the other side, consistently with the spirit of integrated water resources management which calls for "thinking beyond the aquifer"(Jakeman et al., 2016). Socio-hydrogeology, furthermore, aims to understand the impact of local know-how, risk perception, consumption and power relations on groundwater quality and quantity and to involve stakeholders and the public in order to build trust among groundwater users and managers and foster the implementation of sound science-based management practices for groundwater protection (Re, 2021). Theoretical and methodological tools and case studies are key for promoting the application of socio-hydrogeology. A relevant example in this respect is the Bir Al-Nas approach (Re, 2015, https://biralnas.wordpress.com/). Bir Al-Nas stands for Bottom-up IntegRated Approach for sustainabLe grouNdwater mAnagement in rural areaS, and is the acronym of a project – in the framework of the European Union's Marie Curie Fellowships - aimed at developing a replicable multidisciplinary example of integrated approach for science-based groundwater management practices, applied to the aquifer system in the Cap Bon Peninsula (Tunisia). The Arabic meaning of Bir Al-Nas, “the well of people”, emphasizes the effective inclusion of the social dimension into hydrogeological investigations (Re, 2015). An  important requirement of the Bir Al-Nas approach is to carry out a social network analysis (SNA) that investigates and categorizes the relationships between stakeholders and identifies the key actors that are likely to positively influence the implementation of new management practices resulting from a hydrogeochemical investigation.  The SNA, also, allows  to notice the presence of (and get in touch with) minorities, marginalized groups and ‘informal sectors’ that are directly affected by the water issue in question, but might not be considered through a traditional approach (Re, 2015). The Bir Al-Nas approach encourages hydrogeologists  to act as “social hydrologists” during their monitoring activities, which often bring them into contact with local communities and end users (and polluters) of water. Not only can they retrieve reliable information about traditional know-how and local issues, but they can also change the public perception of science and scientists to create the basis for mutual collaboration and understanding in view of implementing improved integrated groundwater management (Re, 2015).  Sociological data, in addition, can help to interpret and cross check the outcomes of standard hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical investigations concerning, for instance, the presence and characteristics of contamination sources as inferred from chemical analyses and from water users interviews (e.g. Re et al., 2017). Of course, the transdisciplinary nature of socio-hydrogeological studies points to involving multidisciplinary teams but these, often, are not available.

Geoethics underpins socio-hydrogeology first of all because the latter intrinsically acknowledges, and takes care of, the sociological aspects of the interactions between people and groundwater, promotes a more equitable use of groundwater resources and seeks information sharing as wells as the active participation of stakeholders and water users in studying and solving groundwater related problems. Geoethics, at the same time, offers a wider conceptual framework that, also, helps deciding what to do when dealing with competing and conflicting interests, views and values, that socio-hydrogeology may help to highlight and that are the norm when tackling environmental problems.

References

Daily G.C., Alexander S., Ehrlich P., Goulder L., Lubchenko J., Matson P.A., Mooney H.A., Postel S., Schneider S.H., Tilman D., Woodwell G.M. (1997). Ecosystem Services: Benefits Supplied to Human Societies by Natural Ecosystems, Issues in Ecology, 1:1-18.

Jakeman A.J., Barreteau O., Randall J.H., Rinaudo J.D., Ross A., Arshad M., Hamilton S. (2016). Integrated Groundwater Management: An Overview of Concepts and Challenges. In: Jakeman A.J., Barreteau O., Randall J.H., Rinaudo J.D., Ross A., eds. (2016). Integrated Groundwater Management – Concepts, Approaches and Challenges, SpringerOpen.

Margat J. and Van der Gun J. (2013). Groundwater around the World: A Geographic Synopsis, CRC Press.

MA (2005). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

Re V. (2015). Incorporating the social dimension into hydrogeochemical investigations for rural development: the Bir Al-Nas approach for socio-hydrogeology. Hydrogeology Journal, 23: 1293–1304.

Re V., Sacchi E., Kammoun S., Tringali C., Trabelsi R., Zouari K., Daniele S. (2017). Integrated socio-hydrogeological approach to tackle nitrate contamination in groundwater resources. The case of Grombalia Basin (Tunisia). Science of the Total Environment 593, 664-676.

Re V. (2021) Socio-Hydrogeology and the power of transdisciplinary sciences (webinar), https://www.geoscienze.unipd.it/sites/geoscienze.unipd.it/files/Seminario_Re-Viviana_11-05-2021.pdf

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The "dark" side of the Moon (and space), between jurisprudence, politics and ecology

by Silvia Peppoloni*

This article was published in ReWriters Magazine, in Italian:

https://rewriters.it/il-lato-oscuro-della-luna-tra-giurisprudenza-politica-ed-ecologia/

* Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome (Italy); Secretary General of the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics; Councillor of the IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences; Member of the Ethical Board of ICOS - Intergrated Carbon Observation System; Coordinator of IAPG-Italy; Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Geological Society. Email: silvia.peppoloni@ingv.it

Silvia Peppoloni

The Outer Space Treaty promoted by the United Nations and entered into force in 1967 established the principles governing the activities of States on the exploration and utilization of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies. With this document, the nations agreed that the space "is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty" and that "exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind." Therefore, the exploitation of space resources, including those of the Moon, should be allowed only if it is preparatory to scientific explorations and research aimed at the good of all humanity, and any appropriation by individual countries should be prohibited.

Unfortunately, developments and events following the approval of this treaty have shown that space exploration is actually fuelled by geopolitical ambitions and ideological battles between nations to prove their technological might and make ownership claims on extraterrestrial bodies.

This difficult and tense international context is outlined in a recent article published by the EOS magazine of the American Geophysical Union, with references to ongoing legal and ethical disputes, to the most definite stands and to the proposals that suggest a way out.

In 1979, the United States refused to sign the Moon Agreement, another United Nations treaty that specifically declared that lunar resources were the "common heritage of mankind" and committed signatories to establishing an international regime of oversight when resource extraction was "about to become feasible." But the matter was far from over.

In 2015, the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama passed legislation that unilaterally gave American companies the right to own and sell natural resources they mine from celestial bodies, including the Moon. And in 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order proclaiming that "Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space [...] and the United States does not view it as a global commons."

In addition, Trump established the US Space Force, the first step towards a military presence in the space.

But other countries have also shown their interest in exploring the Moon. Among them, China that in 2019 landed a probe on the far side of our satellite, and Russia, which is re-proposing its lunar program, with a series of missions to starting in 2021 to drill the surface of the lunar south pole in search of water ice, helium-3, carbon, nitrogen and precious metals.

Some US companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, are already planning ways to claim resources on the Moon, while the company Japanese Ispace aims to extract lunar water and thus become the world leader of an economy based on space resources. It does not seem so far a future in which commercial spaceships will sail the sidereal spaces to bring precious rocks and metals back to Earth, and perhaps not only those, as frighteningly hypothesized by the science fiction movie "Alien".

Divergent positions on this race for extra-planetary exploitation are then found among experts from different sectors. American Scott Pace, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University and director of the U.S. Space Policy Institute, says that legally speaking, space is not a global commons, since commons implies common ownership and common responsibility, and this in its opinion is inadmissible, since it would allow other countries to have a say in what people do. United States in space. On the other hand, the Nigerian Gbenga Oduntan, a reader in international commercial law at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, argues instead that all countries should have a say in what happens in space and on the Moon, even countries that are not yet capable of or interested in going there, and adds that "commercialization of outer space in a Wild West mode is going to lead faster to disputes."

It is clear that the lack of regulation in this area is extremely dangerous for the future of space exploration.

Recently, US President Joe Biden promoted NASA's Artemis program, which includes non-binding bilateral agreements with other countries that want to collaborate with the United States in upcoming lunar missions (the agreement with Italy was signed in September 2020). These agreements are inspired by the disregarded treaty of 1967 and aim to set norms of behavior for activity on the Moon: they advocate a shared vision of principles to create a safe and transparent environment that facilitates the exploration, science and commercial activities of which all humanity can enjoy. But what appears to be an excellent omen for the future, is instead considered by some to be a way for the United States to legitimize the exploitation of space resources.

Having outlined the international context in which the prospects for the economic exploitation of space, and of the Moon in particular, move, however, we must consider that the development of a mining activity on the Moon seems increasingly probable, as growing numbers of countries and corporations hope to exploit its minerals to enable further exploration and commercial gain. Any extraction will require extraction machinery, processing facilities, transportation infrastructure, storage, and power sources, which will inevitably have a considerable environmental impact.

Furthermore, the discovery of water on the lunar surface (that can be split into hydrogen and oxygen and used to make space vehicles fuel) has made more realistic the possibility of establishing permanent human settlements, and exploiting the Moon as a potential stopping point on the journey to reach Mars.

But what effects could these activities have on our natural satellite? Is there a risk that humans could cause environmental damage to the Moon? What ethical rules could guide its exploitation? And finally, is this a real problem that we need to consider for the near future?

For a group of mainly Australian academics, made up of lawyers, space archaeologists and also interested citizens, a Declaration of the Rights of the Moon could be the right tool to preserve our satellite from future (and inevitable) anthropogenic impacts.

In order to foster debate and outline an ethics to exploit the lunar landscape for profit, the proponents of the declaration affirm that the Moon is "a sovereign natural entity in its own right and [...] possesses fundamental rights, which arise from its existence in the Universe." These rights include "the right to exist, persist and continue its vital cycles unaltered, unharmed and unpolluted by human beings; the right to maintain ecological integrity [...] and the right to remain a forever peaceful celestial entity, unmarred by human conflict or warfare."

Furthermore, they highlight the urgency of discussing such a legal instrument, as lunar mission planning is increasingly accelerating, while there is yet a worrying legal uncertainty about what private companies are allowed to do in space. And in any case, the Moon would not be the first natural entity to be granted legal rights for its protection: on Earth, for example, the Whanganui River and the Urewera Forest in New Zealand, the Ganges River in India and the Atrato River in Colombia already have been granted legal rights.

However, the declaration is raising great contrasts: in fact, for some, attributing fundamental rights to an inanimate object such as the Moon has no legal basis and is politically meaningless, also in consideration of the fact that the Moon is beyond the sovereignty of any nation, and therefore there is no sovereign power that can legally guarantee its rights.

But the discussion is very broad and concerns the whole future of space travel. In this regard, in a recent book on geoethics published by the Geological Society of London, the bioethicist Margaret McLean, proposes six principles and virtues to be applied outside the terrestrial space: stewardship, scientific integrity, prevention, prudent vigilance, intergenerational justice, and the last resort, that is the recognition of the intrinsic value of the Universe.

We are still very far from a clear and shared vision on space policies, but perhaps the Declaration of the Rights of the Moon could be an important beginning of discussion to arrive at a concrete solution of protection, a discussion in which everyone should be able to take part, like Erin O Donnell says, a water law expert and Rights for Nature activist at the University of Melbourne.

After all, the Moon is part of the life and imagination of every human being: it is present in all cultures, in myths, in literature, in popular legends. Its formation has made possible the development of life on Earth and continues to influence some fundamental dynamics, and this should be enough to consider it much more than a wasteland, barren and inanimate, to be fought over by nations.

Just as we must never forget, when we talk about the Moon, Mars and space travel, what the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said "... Maybe in a few hundred years, we will have established human colonies among the stars, but for now we have only one planet, and we must work together to protect it."

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New article:

Linking geological heritage and geoethics with a particular emphasis on palaeontological heritage: the new concept of ‘palaeontoethics’

How to cite:

DeMiguel D., Brilha J., Alegret L., Arenillas I., Arz J.A., Gilabert V., Strani F., Valenciano A., Villas E. and Azanza B. (2021). Linking geological heritage and geoethics with a particular emphasis on palaeontological heritage: the new concept of ‘palaeontoethics’. Geoheritage, 13, 69, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-021-00595-3

Free download:

https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_1408d456dd2045b1a6648d49afdbaaa9.pdf?index=true

Abstract:

Geoconservation and geoethics are two emergent domains in geosciences. During the last decade, both topics have increasingly gained the attention of geoscientists and the society, but the main geoethical dilemmas related to the conservation and management of geoheritage are not clearly identified yet. This work aims at providing an overview on the meaning and scope of geoethics and how it intersects geoheritage and the practice of geoconservation. Some case studies—many of which are under current debate and have a high potential as geoeducational resources—are presented for addressing ethical, social and cultural settings as well as dilemmas affecting geoheritage. We find that there are particular cases (mostly concerning the trade of fossils, and in particular the growing concern about activities that rely on amber from Myanmar) for which a clear dichotomy of views makes them much more problematic and complex. These cases deserve more suitable legal frameworks that help implement more balanced ethical standards and practice guidelines for geoconservation, guarantee human rights and needs in relation to that heritage and contribute to the advancement of geosciences. Particular attention is given to palaeontological heritage, as fossils are among the most threatened elements of the Earth’s diversity and are in need of more effective and statutory protection measures. In the context of geoethics applied to palaeontological heritage, and given the need of a clear understanding of what ethics in palaeontology means, a new concept—palaeontoethics—is proposed and formally defined.

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Other publications on geoethics in the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/publications

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

The IAPG section of Afghanistan

Welcome to the IAPG section of Afghanistan! 

The section is officially established on 2 August 2021 and will work under the responsibility of Mohammad Salem Hussaini (Kabul Polytechnic University) and 

Asadullah Farahmand (Ministry of Energy and Water, Kabul). IAPG-Afghanistan is the 34th national section of our Association.

Mohammad Salem Hussaini

Mohammad Salem Hussaini got the B.Sc. in Geology, Department of Geoscience, Faculty of Science, Sistan and Baluchestan University, Iran; M.Sc., Department of Geoscience, Isfahan University, Iran; and from 2017 is Assistant Professor at the Department of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology of the Kabul Polytechnic University. His current research field is on groundwater management for Kabul city and other districts in Afghanistan. He is working on artificial groundwater recharge (site section for managed aquifer recharge in Kabul city which includes spatial multi-criteria decision making techniques integrated by remote sensing and GIS), and on climate change impact on groundwater resources, depletion of groundwater potential zones, and ground subsidence in Kabul city area. 

Asadullah Farahmand

Asadullah Farahmand has a B.Sc. Bachelor's degree focused in Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology from Kabul Polytechnic University. From 2019 he works at the Department of Groundwater Resources (MEW) of the Ministry of Energy and Water in Kabul City. He is working in groundwater field for Kabul city and other districts in Afghanistan. In particular, on groundwater potential zones in Arghandab sub basin using remote sensing and AHP, ANP technique and on artificial groundwater recharge (site selection for managed aquifer recharge in Kabul city which includes spatial multi-criteria decision-making techniques integrated by remote sensing and GIS). In addition he is working on the assessment of the origin and source of interaction between surface waters and groundwaters of Kabul basin using hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes (deuterium, oxygen-18 and tritium).  

Other IAPG national sections: 

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Meteorological or anthropogenic drought? A recent study illustrates the environmental, social and economic risks

by Silvia Peppoloni*

This article was published in ReWriters Magazine, in Italian and English:

https://rewriters.it/siccita-meteorologica-o-antropogenica-un-recente-studio-ce-ne-illustra-i-rischi-ambientali-sociali-ed-economici/

* Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome (Italy); Secretary General of the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics; Councillor of the IUGS - International Union of Geological Sciences; Member of the Ethical Board of ICOS - Intergrated Carbon Observation System; Coordinator of IAPG-Italy; Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Geological Society. Email: silvia.peppoloni@ingv.it

Silvia Peppoloni

Included among the meteorological phenomena, drought is defined as the lack or scarcity of rain that lasts for an exceptionally long period of time (months to years), during which rainfall is scarce or insufficient to guarantee the balance between the natural availability of water and its consumption by the human being.

In many regions of the Earth, drought is a recurring phenomenon, even with a certain periodicity, and in this sense it can be faced with appropriate strategies and actions. These include marine desalination works, the collection and storage of rainwater, the planting of crops that need low quantities of water, or recycling with purification of water already used.

Drought can cause a serious risk for the territory and the people who live there, as it involves severe environmental (fires, desertification), economic (reduction of cultivated areas, losses in industrial, agricultural and livestock activities) and social (famine, migration) mass, social tensions, wars) consequences. For this reason it should not be considered only an effect of the water deficit, but it should be studied, modeled and parameterized including also the anthropic interactions with nature. It is on this point that the authors of a recent article published in the scientific journal Reviews of Geophysics insist: there is also the “anthropogenic drought”, where it is human activities rather than natural factors that cause or intensify drought and its impact.

But how is it possible to incorporate anthropogenic drought into forecasting models, so that its effects can be planned and mitigated for the future?

Drought: a multidimensional phenomenon

The intensity of the drought is expressed through indices: the most used internationally is the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), whose value quantifies the surplus or deficit of rainfall compared to the average values. However, this indicator explains the availability of water from a meteorological point of view, but does not consider the bidirectional interactions between human action and the environment, especially it does not take into account the way in which human activities can change rainfall, increase the risk of water stress or altering the microclimatic conditions. It also does not consider the impact of local water demand or land management practices. For this reason the authors believe it is more effective to define and treat drought as a multidimensional and multiscale phenomenon.

The evidence of this methodological perspective is immediate, if we consider the combined effects of climate change and human activities. Multivariate climatic conditions could make the negative impacts of drought events more devastating, as the planet’s temperatures will continue to rise in the coming years, with unpredictable repercussions on water demand and water use, particularly with increases in demand by the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the frequency and distribution of droughts can affect renewable energy production and current and future economic balances which, in turn, can increase the anthropogenic CO2 footprint and subsequently affect rainfall conditions and the severity of the anthropogenic drought, in a negative feedback mechanism. In addition, drought can change the length of the plant growing season, local hydrology and the carbon uptake period.

Making forecasts on drought is in general very difficult, but predicting and planning interventions by introducing anthropogenic drought into the analysis models can be a real challenge for science, due to the different rates of development and the different demand for water that characterizes various countries and regions of the world.

However, despite the gloomy picture, we can be cautiously optimistic: the progress in the development of dynamics models of the water / human interaction system and the Integrated Assessment Models (IAM), that are able to dynamically represent the interactions between natural and anthropogenic components at different scales, for example by inserting climatic data in the analyzes to elaborate future scenarios, are proving effective. In fact, through the use of these models it seems possible to identify scenarios in line with future climate projections, which are very useful for making technical choices and political actions, and for evaluating their possible results in advance.

There are, however, some limitations: the models developed so far are more suitable for investigating large-scale events, which occur over a long period of time, but instead present greater uncertainty in predicting short-term and regional-scale effects (such as local droughts).

The real possibility remains that this new way of studying drought, by introducing the anthropogenic factors that influence it, can come to provide increasingly accurate predictive scenarios, able to guide the environmental and development policies of human communities.

Improving the response to future droughts through increasingly effective strategies for managing the demand and water supply of the future, when the climate will be warmer and characterized by numerous extreme climatic events, is not just an issue of economic sustainability. It is also and above all a great safety issue, which affects everyone, since the drought may be accompanied by growing social and geopolitical tensions. Only responsible and farsighted ruling classes and ever more accurate science and technology will be able to try to defuse the effects of the massive anthropogenic global changes taking place.

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Other articles published in the IAPG Blog:

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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

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The IAPG section of Bolivia

Welcome to the IAPG section of Bolivia! 

The section is officially established on 5 July 2021 and will work under the responsibility of Wilfredo Ramos Collorana (Universidad Mayor San Andrés - UMSA, La Paz; President of "Colegio de Geólogos de Bolivia"). IAPG-Bolivia is the 33th national section of our Association.

Wilfredo Ramos Collorana

Wilfredo is Professor at the Geological Engineering Department of the "Universidad Mayor San Andrés" (UMSA), La Paz and current President of "Colegio de Geólogos de Bolivia". He is also the Bolivian representative of LAIGEO and IGEO.

He got his PhD at the "Universidad Nacional de La Plata", Argentina. He was Specialist on Environmental Engineering at the "Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional de La Plata", Argentina. He worked on mining exploration and prospecting in Bolivia, also as researcher, and on mining geology in Argentina and Chile (1998-2015). He was Director of Prospecting and Exploration at the "Servicio Geológico Minero" (SERGEOMIN) from 2014 to 2015. He worked on geology at the "Servicio Geológico de Bolivia" from 1993 to 1997.

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Sustainable Mining – what exactly does it mean?

by David Ovadia*

* David Ovadia is an IAPG member, former coordinator of IAPG-UK.

David Ovadia

These days, almost every mining project is described as ‘sustainable’ – an adjective that is being liberally applied to many things including the UN’s sustainable development goals all 17 of which are worthy and important. But is mining something that can be described as being sustainable?  When the commodity is depleted, it does not grow back. The metal, or aggregate, or oil has gone and the extractive activity ceases. Is ‘sustainable’ really the correct term to use?

Many people think it is. Anglo American has published its Sustainable Mining Plan which, quite rightly, refers to the sustainable benefits that come with, and from, mining activities. We should all be in favour of mining that minimises damage to societies and the environment; that leaves behind restored landscapes, agricultural land or forests; that builds and maintains infrastructure and skills that will exist well after the mine closes, and other such noble aims. These describe good mining, but I am not sure that sustainable is really the correct term to use.

Near to my home is to be found the Attenborough Nature Reserve which is a splendid facility for wildlife, walking, leisure, vegetation and water sports created from disused gravel pits on the banks of the River Trent. The gravel has long gone, but the benefits survive and prosper. Would it have been right to call those old gravel pits, when they were being dug out, sustainable mining? Probably not.

Whilst we all understand what is meant by the term ‘sustainable mining’, is there a better term to use? What about ‘responsible mining’?

It has the advantage of suggesting that the mining is not a dig-and-abandon activity. However, it does not strictly imply a positive, beneficial result. I know that I am being pedantic, but an open pit mine that is later filled with toxic waste is the responsibility of someone through mismanagement, corruption or weak legislation. We might want to use the term in a good way, but being responsible for something does not guarantee a positive outcome.

So what else can we use as an adjective that means what we want it to mean? How about ‘ethical mining’? This seems to embrace most of the positives without giving the false impression of renewability or permanence. Good ethics might be linguistic tautology, but the generally accepted meaning of the term includes the technical aspects of the mining itself – much of which is covered by the definition of Geoethics – with the broader social, legal, economic and environmental requirements to behave professionally, properly and sensibly.

We are left with three adjectives to describe mining, none of which perfectly state the things we wish to read into them. Does it really matter which term is used?  Of course not. English is a flexible language; there is no equivalent of the Académie française or the Accademia della Crusca to define the meanings of words. Whichever of these terms is used, and there are probably others that could be selected, what matters is that mining projects are designed, funded and controlled to do as little or no long term damage to the environment or the people they touch. We can all agree on that. 

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Other articles published in the IAPG Blog:

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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

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New IAPG Task Group on Responsible Speleology

This new IAPG Task Group is active from 21 June 2021 and is formed by Mike Buchanan (United Kingdom) and Aleksandar Antić (Serbia).

Introduction

There are few aspects of the human experience that are such worldwide phenomena as the use of caves and few natural features in the landscape that have so excited the imagination … Cave use is an activity that spans the full temporal range of Homo sapiens, extending over half a million years from the present. (Tolan-Smith, 2004, p. 426).

​Through time, humans have used caves for habitation or shelter, storage, various economic activities, as sites for art, inspiration, recreation, entertainment, and religious rites, or burial. In particular, caves have attracted explorers, without whom much of our current understanding of caves would not be possible.

The use of caves for scientific research is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although many cultures have recognized caves as being special features within the landscape, speleology (the study of cave science) has highlighted not only the incredible potential for scientific research associated with caves, but also the exceptional sensitivity and vulnerability of many caves and their associated ecosystems, values and resources to human-caused disturbances – including disturbances caused by cave research. We are only now becoming more fully aware of some of the unintended consequences our use of caves can have.

Human activities have damaged or degraded caves, often unintentionally. Explorers and recreational caving organizations were among the first to respond to this problem by developing “caving codes of ethics” aimed at minimizing or mitigating damage or degradation to caves. More recently, tourist cave managers and various other organizations have also worked to develop “best practice” strategies for a similar purpose. 

More often than not, a key underlying premise of many best practice guidelines is that that caves will be entered and explored. Whereas such guidance provides strategies for minimizing impacts to caves while engaging in certain activities, it often does not consider whether or not those activities should be occurring. In other words, the guidance tells us how to conduct such activities in caves but is silent on whether or not we should conduct them. 

The purpose of speleoethics is to consider this question. A key premise of speleoethics is that as our knowledge of the sensitivity of caves increases, so does our responsibility to preserve these special places. Given that almost every visit to caves results in impacts and in some cases, incremental, unintended, irreparable or long-lasting damage, the purpose of this IAPG Task Group is to consider whether a) there can be such a thing as “ethical speleology” and b) if so, what it might look like. We seek to develop guidance on whether a particular cave should be entered; under what circumstances, and for what purpose.

These questions are especially timely now that technology allows humans to expand their activities beyond Earth. Rather than rushing to explore pristine caves or cave-like environments, whether on other worlds or our own planet, we have a responsibility to carefully weigh the pros, cons and potential unintended consequences of doing so. Speleoethics can provide a useful framework for this.

The IAPG Task Group has formed to present a defined way forward, by the drafting of an essential White Paper that will provide guidance to the global speleological community. Including those who conduct research within caves and on host karst systems.

Works cited:

Tolan-Smith, 2004. Human occupation of caves. In: J. Gunn, ed. 2004. Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 426-428

Members of the IAPG Task Group on Responsible Speleology

Mike Buchanan (United Kingdom)

He has thirty years' experience as speleologist, karstologist. He has focused his interest on the management and conservation of karst groundwater systems and their subterranean component. He has professional experience in the exploration of caves and confined spaces; groundwater tracing and vulnerability mapping of karst freshwater aquifers, in relation to catchments; pollution point source identification by chemical analysis. He was co-author of The Management of Karst Landscapes and Caves for UNESCO Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site 2002. He is member of the IAPG Board of Expert for Geoethics in Speleology.

Aleksandar Antić (Serbia)

He is born in Požarevac, Serbia in 1994. He is currently a PhD student and researcher at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography Tourism and Hotel Management. Moreover, he is working as Assistant Editor for the MDPI publisher. His research includes the management of geoheritage, geoconservation and sustainable geotourism destination development, with a special focus on cave management and show cave tourism and speleology. He has published over 10 papers in international scientific journals and has attended numerous international conferences. He is a member of European Geosciences Union and Serbian Geographical Society. 

Picture credits:

- Cerjanska Cave, Southern Serbia (Photo by Aleksandar Antić)

- GB Cave, The Mendips, United Kingdom (Photo by Mike Buchanan)

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Other IAPG Task Groups:

https://www.geoethics.org/tgs

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

New book on geoethics just printed!

We are proud to inform that a new great book on geoethics (20 chapters, 34 authors) has been just printed:

Di Capua G., Bobrowsky P.T., Kieffer S.W. and Palinkas C. (2021). Geoethics: Status and Future Perspectives. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 508, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP508.

This is the second volume focused on geoethics published by the Geological Society of London. This is a significant step forward in which authors address the maturation of geoethics. The field of geoethics is now ready to be introduced outside the geoscience community as a logical platform for global ethics that addresses anthropogenic changes. Geoethics has a distinction in the geoscientific community for discussing ethical, social and cultural implications of geoscience knowledge, research, practice, education and communication. This provides a common ground for confronting ideas, experiences and proposals on how geosciences can supply additional service to society in order to improve the way humans interact responsibly with the Earth system. This book provides new messages to geoscientists, social scientists, intellectuals, law- and decision-makers, and laypeople. Motivations and actions for facing global anthropogenic changes and their intense impacts on the planet need to be governed by an ethical framework capable of merging a solid conceptual structure with pragmatic approaches based on geoscientific knowledge. This philosophy defines geoethics.

This book is dedicated to Jan Boon.

Chapters:

DI CAPUA G., BOBROWSKY P.T., KIEFFER S.W. AND PALINKAS C.

Introduction: geoethics goes beyond the geoscience profession

(open access)

PEPPOLONI, S. AND DI CAPUA, G.

Geoethics as global ethics to face grand challenges for humanity

BOHLE, M. 

Geo-societal sense-making

KEANE, C.M. AND ASHER, P.

Addressing the geoethics skills gap through co-curricular approaches

CRONIN, V.S.

Geoethics as a common thread that can bind a geoscience department together

MOGK, D.W. 

The intersection of geoethics and diversity in the geosciences

BONHAM, O. AND WALDIE, A. 

Geoscience, ethics and enforcement

DAWSON, L.A., DI MAGGIO, R.M., MCKINLEY, J., DI CAPUA, G., PEPPOLONI, S. AND PRINGLE, J. 

A proposal for a white paper on geoethics in forensic geology

FERNÁNDEZ-FUENTES, I., CORREIA, V. AND NEUMANN, M. 

The importance of professional regulation of geoscientists and their role in a fast-changing world

OVADIA, D.C. AND O’CONNOR, E.A. 

International geoscience cooperation – fair and equitable?

BOON, J. 

Sociology for mineral exploration

BILHAM, N. 

Responsible mining and responsible sourcing of minerals: opportunities and challenges for cooperation across value chains

MUDD, G.M. 

Sustainable/responsible mining and ethical issues related to the sustainable development goals

GROENFELDT, D. 

Ethical considerations in managing the hydrosphere: an overview of water ethics

BELLAUBI, F. AND ARASA, A. 

Geoethics in groundwater management: the geoethical dilemma in la galera aquifer

OBONI, F. AND OBONI, C.H. 

Holistic geoethical slopes’ portfolio risk assessment

CERASE, A. 

From ‘good’ intuitions to principled practices and beyond: ethical issues in risk communication

STEWART, I.S. AND HURTH, V. 

Selling Planet Earth: re-purposing geoscience communications

WUEBBLES, D.J. 

Ethics in Climate Change: A Climate Scientist’s Perspective

MCLEAN, M.R. 

Reaching out from Earth to the stars

A great thank to all the reviewers of the book chapters:

Ruth Allington, Beth Bartel, Martin Bohle, Jan Boon, Edoardo Borgomeo, Daniela Di Bucci, Vincent S. Cronin, Erle Ellis, Robert Frodeman, Armin Grunwald, Linda Gundersen, Fausto Guzzetti, Jill L. Karsten, Christopher Keane, Helio A. Lazarim, Eduardo Marone, Ellen Pletcher Metzger, David W. Mogk, David Craig Ovadia, Roberto Lencina, Silvia Peppoloni, Rika Preiser, Ortwin Renn and Mike Stephenson.

This book on the GSL (Lyell Collection) website:

https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/508/1 

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Other books on geoethics in the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/books-on-geoethics

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

New article published in the special issue on geoethics with the journal Sustainability

We are glad to inform that the a new paper has been published in the special issue "New Advances on Geoethics and Sustainable Development" of the journal Sustainability. The guest editors of this special issue are Silvia Peppoloni and Giuseppe Di Capua.

The paper published is entitled "The Need for Geoethical Awareness: The Importance of Geoenvironmental Education in Geoheritage Understanding in the Case of Meteora Geomorphes, Greece" and authored by Efthymios Georgousis, Socrates Savelides, Spyros Mosios, Maximos-Vasileios Holokolos, and Hara Drinia.

The article can be downloaded here:

https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_fa72234c07bd41ad80f6cb4fc390c91a.pdf?index=true

Abstract:

"The purpose of this article is to explore the young generation’s geocultural consciousness. The research uses the case of Meteora Geomorphes, which have been proposed as a geological heritage site and are known to students for aesthetic, cultural and religious reasons. The sample of the research consisted of third grade Junior High school (Gymnasium) pupils, who have been taught Geography–Geology courses in previous classes, and students from departments of the University of Thessaly, Central Greece, wherein their subjects are taught cultural heritage courses. The data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire that examines their knowledge, values, geoethical attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about geocultural heritage understanding. The result of the research shows the lack of understanding of the geological heritage in relation to cultural heritage and of the sense of responsibility for the environment and a code of ethics for protection and conservation. The need for strategic educational planning of geoeducation in school practice with the integration of geoheritage in the theme of environmental education (geoenvironmental education) is obvious."

The paper can be cited as follows:

Georgousis E., Savelides S., Mosios S., Holokolos M.-V., and Drinia H. (2021). The Need for Geoethical Awareness: The Importance of Geoenvironmental Education in Geoheritage Understanding in the Case of Meteora Geomorphes, Greece. Sustainability, 13(12), 6626, https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126626. 

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Other publications on geoethics in the IAPG website:

https://www.geoethics.org/publications

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org

Geological Hazards and Geoethics in Argentina

Elizabeth Rovere and Roberto Violante (IAPGeoethics-Argentina coordinators) co-organize the Symposium S3 "Geological Hazards and Geoethics" (Peligros Geológicos y Geoética) at the XXI Argentinian Geological Congress (Congreso Geológico Argentino), that will be held in virtual format in March 2021. Initially the congress was to take place in Puerto Madryn, Chubut (Argentina).

Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General) and Giuseppe Di Capua (IAPG Treasurer) will give invited talks on geoethics. 

This symposium is sponsored by IAPGeoethics-Argentina.

Download more information about the Symposium S3 (in Spanish):

https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_843db4468e8542d9bb3d601c5c201ac9.pdf?index=true

Congress website: 

http://www.congresogeologico.org.ar/

#geoethics #geoética #IAPG #Argentina

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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: 
https://www.geoethics.org