Wednesday, March 5, 2014


Geoethics and Risks Management

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS


deadline: 15 March 2014



Congress
The Third Young Earth Scientists (YES) Congress
“Bridging Geo-Generation into Global Earth Sciences Integrations”

Date
11th -14th August 2014

Venue
Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Theme of the session
Geoethics and Risks Management

Sub-themes of the session:
a) Geoethics and natural hazards
b) Geoethics and disaster management
c) Geoeducation
d) Geoethics in research activities and in practice of geosciences

Conveners
Hilton Eneya Banda (IAPG-Malawi) & Jean-Robert Nshokano Mweze (IAPG-DR Congo)

Session description
It is very important to follow a basic set of moral values in any profession to act in the perspective of a social advancement. This means that geosciences need of ethical principles and practices.
Geoscientists have a significant role to play, for example in the field of geohazards, to help society in the defense against natural phenomena such as landslides, avalanches, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.
Geoscientists cannot only evaluate hazards, they can also estimate the potential consequences if phenomena occur in a given place at a given time, helping decision-makers in the risks management and to educate people to science. However, sometimes the lack of trustworthy of geoscientists by society and government is lost, due to some unethical practices for a short-term gain, or due to incorrect understanding of geological phenomena.
Some of the hazards that cannot be predicted by geoscientists with the existing capabilities have been "forecast" by some pseudo-scientists, to raise the social/media attention, thereby bringing the reputation of the profession into discredit. Most often, popular myths take over scientific facts among the public, and this can lead to false rumors about natural hazards. In the time, it leads to a reduced capacity of society to prevent and mitigate natural hazards.
In view of this, geoscientists need to improve their skills and expertise, and work to became reliable and qualified professionals serving the public and recognized by society.
This session calls for papers that focus on geoethical problems in facing natural phenomena in the African continent and on proposals to improve actions to mitigate and manage natural risks, including strategies and projects on geoeducation.
The session is organized by the African sections of the IAPG-International Association for Promoting Geoethics.


Deadline
All abstracts must be received not later than 15th March 2014 to be eligible for review. Abstracts received after this deadline will not be accepted. The abstracts are expected to have science-based content; all abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee to assess their scientific merit and applicability to the events and notified by 15th April 2014 to present papers at the congress.


More info
www.yescongress.org/2014


Picture: Tanzania landscape at Mufindi