Wednesday, October 28, 2020


IAPG-UK has a new coordinator


Antony Benham has been appointed new co-coordinator of IAPG-United Kingdom. He
replaces David Ovadia.
Antony is a Principal Exploration Geologist with SRK ES with more than 23 years of experience as a professional geologist including more than 16 years in the minerals and mining industry. He has wide ranging National (UK) and International experience in the management and implementation of geological survey and mineral exploration technical assistance programmes, commissioned assignments, and training and technology transfer projects. He has extensive experience on government-funded projects in the UK as well as in overseas locations including Afghanistan, Republic of the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and UAE. He has also worked for private clients on commissioned projects throughout the world including in Kazakhstan, Russia, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Armenia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.
David Ovadia
In recent years, Antony has led major development aid-funded and national government-funded work in central Asia and east Africa, in particular Afghanistan and Sudan. In Afghanistan, Antony was the Project Manager for three projects building capacity at the Afghanistan Geological Survey and Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, whilst in Sudan he was Project Manager for three projects working with the Ministry of Minerals and the Geological Research Authority of The Sudan to restructure and manage geodata in the country.
Antony started his career as an Exploration and Mining Geologist in South Africa where he worked on a variety of gold mines on the West Witwatersrand before moving to precious metal exploration in the eastern Bushveld, and then as a geologist at an underground platinum mine.
He has an interest in precious metal mineralisation, particularly magmatic PGM deposits, as well as gold and base-metal deposits.
The IAPG wishes to thank David Ovadia for the great work done to establish the section and to promote geoethics and the IAPG in the United Kingdom and other countries. He will still continue to serve the IAPG as prominent member. 


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IAPG National Sections:

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

Tuesday, October 27, 2020


Responsible management of water: a resource that recalls us to dialogue

by Silvia Peppoloni*

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

* Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome (Italy); Secretary General of the IAPG - International Asssociation for Promoting Geoethics. Email: silvia.peppoloni@ingv.it


Silvia Peppoloni
In these times of pandemic, it is increasingly clear that a health emergency is not so different from other challenges that affect the planet as a whole and that geoscientists, Earth experts, as well as politicians, economists, local administrators, citizens are called to face, sometimes on a daily basis, the growing effects of climate change, environmental pollution or natural and anthropogenic risks: often similar uncertainties and questions are at stake, the same needs and expectations, with the difference that SARS-CoV-2 ( or Covid19) is seen by most as a real, tangible threat, while issues like global warming are mistakenly perceived as distant, not so pressing, ultimately as problems that can be postponed
Yet the ethical aspects and social repercussions involved in all these challenges that humanity is facing are enormous: the decisions and measures that must be adopted to reduce the risk to which human life is subjected on the planet cannot ignore evaluations that embrace also ethical perspectives. Ultimately, what is at stake is the type and quality of the choices to be made, their scientific basis and the widespread social consensus that must accompany them.

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a unique opportunity to reflect even more deeply on the social and ethical value of scientific knowledge, on the meaning of the profession of scientists, on the ways in which they must interact with political decision makers and citizens. The protection of human life, respect for natural processes or sustainability are the reference values of the civil commitment of a scientist at the service of society. The scientist has ethical and social responsibilities that derive from possessing specific knowledge and experience, capable of protecting citizens and the environment, as well as ensuring sustainable development of human communities. Whatever their role, researchers, professionals, educators, in all circumstances scientists are called upon to make their cultural baggage available to society to face and live with the health, environmental and economic challenges of our times. The interaction between science and society thus becomes the reference core of their action, the yardstick to which to relate the effectiveness of their service. Ultimately it is taking care of others, it is the ability to establish a dialogue, to give back to society a part of the accumulated knowledge that society itself has supported by investing in the training of the individual.

One always wonders how aware scientists are of these responsibilities, how capable they are of minimizing the human vanity of their knowledge, how much they manage to circumscribe the perimeter of their certainties, how willing they are to seek common plans for dialogue.

There are areas in which the awareness of one’s responsibilities as scholars or managers of a common good becomes crucial, such as that concerning the management of the water resource, since water is deeply connected with human life and social well-being, not only in a vital sense but also in economic, cultural and educational terms.

The management of surface and groundwater is an activity of great complexity, which must have as objective its prudent and responsible use, which must guarantee sufficient water for all, taking into account the needs of the territory, sometimes conflicting, which implies dialogue between all the social partners involved, requires efforts to find a balance between different beliefs and expectations, demand inclusiveness and mutual respect.

There are numerous conflicts in the world where the water resource is a matter of contention, situations in which water is used as a weapon for political pressure or where the water resource has been damaged by conflicts. And it cannot be excluded that in the more or less near future, when climate change begins to show even more intense effects, the reduction of reserves, uncertainty in the supply of resources, combined with phenomena of political and social instability, may constitute the trigger for an increase in the number of conflicts. It is therefore evident that the management of water resources, access to drinking water and sanitation are issues that involve not only technical and scientific aspects, but also problems of social equity and intergenerational justice. A scientist who works in the field of hydrogeology is now called to broaden his/her skills beyond the technical-scientific dimension, to analyze problems looking at a broader horizon in which sociological and anthropological reflections also enter.

Groundwater is an example of a renewable resource: its proper management must ensure a balance between water withdrawals and supplies, protection from pollution and salinization, continuity of use of water for future generations. Its mismanagement can cause enormous and often irreversible damage. But an idea of the world develops around water, a structuring of social relations, a modality of community behaviour, which must be taken into account when the hydrogeologist scientist puts himself at the service of the human being.

To date, the world population consumes 4.600 cubic kilometres of water per year, of which 70% for agriculture, 20% for industry and 10% for domestic use. According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2019, “….. global water demand is projected to continue to increase at the current rate until 2050. Over 2 billion people live in countries suffering from high water stress and three out of ten people do not have access to drinking water”. The same report also indicates that stress levels will continue to rise with the increasing water demand and the effects of climate change.

Water is an inalienable human right, a guarantee of the dignity of every individual. And even if each nation has the right to develop policies to safeguard its interests and priorities, no one can contravene the fundamental right of access to water, that vital resource on which life on Earth depends.

The experts who work in any capacity in the field of water are called to manage with attention and great sense of responsibility the problems related to the environmental impacts produced by human interventions on the natural processes that govern surface and underground resources, as well as to develop strategies to harmonize the expectations and requests of all those who live around this precious resource.

Dialogue between all the subjects interested in a problem is possible only when there is a common exchange plan, a sharing of human values, a concertation of objectives. It is the only way to guide choices and apply good practices and strategies with the aim of a future that is truly globally sustainable.


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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

Monday, October 26, 2020


IAPG-Bangaldesh has a new co-coordinator


Abdul Baquee Khan Majlis has been appointed new co-coordinator of IAPG-Bangladesh. He will lead the section together with the current co-coordinator, Jahangir Alam. 
Abdul Baquee Khan Majlis replaces Ershadul Haque.

Ershadul Haque
The IAPG wishes to thank 
Jahangir Alam
Ershadul Haque for the great work done to establish the section and to start promoting geoethics in Bangladesh, giving great visibility to our Association within the local geoscience community. He will still continue to serve the IAPG as prominent member. 
A short bio-sketch of Abdul Baquee Khan Majlis: Graduating in Geology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Abdul Baquee Khan Majlis, Director, Geological Survey Bangladesh (GSB) has been working in GSB since 1990. He completed his 2nd Master Degree in “Applied Quaternary Environmental Geology” from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium in 1996. Throughout the 30 years long carrier he got huge professional experiences in diversified fields of geoscience.
Abdul Baquee Khan Majlis
He has working experiences in remote sensing and geological mapping, sedimentology, stratigraphy and biostratigraphy, petrography and mineralogy, environment and engineering geology, and subsurface exploration through Ground Penetrating Rader (GPR), Magnetic Susceptibility and Resistivity Survey. Moreover, he has active involvement in formulation and execution of several t geo-scientific projects and researches. He has also keen interest in Geo-archaeology and is a fellow of Institute of Archaeology (IOA), UCL, UK. He discovered Mammal fossil remains in north western part of Bangladesh for the first time in the Bengal Basin proper.  He has the rare experience of carrying out geological mapping all along the entire coastal region of Bangladesh. He introduced a very quick and cheap innovative field technique for soft sediment geology adapting the local method of tube-well sinking. He is fond of both in field geology and in laboratory; personally he is of the belief that geologist to do everything as possible by his own- sample and data collection, sample preparation and analysis and even cleaning. He initiated the Palynological laboratory in GSB and inspired (trained) few young geologists to carry on. 
He is the pioneer to coup up with a heuristic approach of “Integrated Geo-resource (Land, Water and Mineral Resources) Exploration” on local or regional scale for GSB activities in pursuance of Geo-scientific knowledge based ‘Landscape Development and Management Planning’ which seems to be the most essential prerequisite for SDG achievement.
He is involved with the Geological Society of Bangladesh (BGS), Association of Geoscientists for International Development (AGID) and the National Oceanographic and Maritime Institute (NOAMI). He is also engaged with International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) activities in Bangladesh and led to observe the International Geoethics Day in 2018 and 2019 in GSB. Presently, he is leading Geological Mapping and Quaternary Geology branch and ICP-MS and TL/OSL laboratories of GSB are working under his supervision.


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IAPG National Sections:

IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

Friday, October 16, 2020


Webinar on Geoethics

19 October 2020

17:00-18:30 CEST


The Early Career Scientists Team (ECST) of the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics, in cooperation with AGI - American Geosciences Institute has organized a webinar on geoethics to be held on 19 October 2020 (17:00-18:30 CEST).

The webinar is open to all and free of charge.

With this event the IAPG celebrates the International Geoethics Day 2020.

Speakers:
Giuseppe Di Capua, Cristina Toma, Silvia Peppoloni, Alexandra Cardoso, Daniel DeMiguel, Sebastian Handl, Cesar Oboni, Linda Gundersen

Moderators:
Jonathan Rizzi and Barbara Zambelli

Teams Live link: http://bit.ly/IAPGWebinar

​Download the leaflet of the webinar: 

Join us on 19 October 2020 (17:00-18:30 CEST)!

 
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IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

Tuesday, October 13, 2020


The issue n. 2 - 2020 
of the IAPG Newsletter is out!


The issue n. 2 - 2020 of the Newsletter of the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics has been released on 13 October 2020.

Summary:
    • Geoethics Medal 2020: John W. Geissman awarded
    • International Geoethics Day: 15 October
    • Webinar on Geoethics: 19 October
    • Questionnaire "Geoethics in the Geosciences"
    • The Early Career Scientists Team (ECST) of the IAPG
    • Welcome to IAPG-Chile!
    • IAPG signed an agreement for cooperation with SGCh
    • IAPG signed an agreement for cooperation with APG
    • IAPG is supporting partner of the EDIG project by iCRAG
    • New book: Teaching Geoethics
    • New article: Geoethics for Nudging Human Practices in Times of Pandemics
    • New article: Applying the Values of Geoethics for Sustainable Speleotourism Development
    • New article: Viewing Earth and World through the Geoethical Lens
    • New article: A geoethical approach to the governance of social-ecological systems: the case of Delta del Tordera (Cataluna)
    • From the IAPG Blog: Geosciences for the Territory and its Ecosystems in a New Political Constitution for the Republic of Chile
    • From the IAPG Blog: The “robbery mining”: grab the money and run
    • From the IAPG Blog: Geosciences and Geoethics in times of Covid-19 pandemic. An interview to Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General)
    • From the IAPG Blog: Situating Geoethics in the Pandemocene, an Opinion
    • Donations
    • Emergency Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic

    Download the IAPG Newsletter n. 2 - 2020: 

    https://f420cbad-ec08-4c39-902f-b0e5afecb44a.filesusr.com/ugd/5195a5_c68f5f685c874b97823dadc193be8f9e.pdf?index=true

    We invite you to share this post and/or forward the IAPG Newsletter n. 2 - 2020 to your colleaguesThank you!

    IAPG Newsletter archive: 
    https://www.geoethics.org/newsletter


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

    Monday, October 12, 2020



    International Geoethics Day 2020

    15 October 2020


    4th edition of this event that is celebrated worldwide, during the Earth Science Week and the month of the Global Ethics Day.

    This year the International Geoethics Day is dedicated to the early career and young geoscientists.

    Theme of the International Geoethics Day 2020: make a... Geoethical Promise!

    We invite you to take a picture with one of your favourite sentences from the Geoethical Promise (see below) and to post it on social networks with the Hashtag: #geoethicsday2020. 

    We remind you that the Geoethical Promise is included in the Cape Town Statement on Geoethics and available in 35 languages.

    The Early Career Scientists Team (ECST) of the IAPG has organized a webinar on geoethics, in cooperation with AGI - American Geosciences Institute, that will be held on 19 October 2020 (17:00-18:30 CEST) to celebrate the International Geoethics Day 2020 (more information in the next post of the IAPG Blog).










     
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    IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics

    Tuesday, October 6, 2020


    John W. Geissman
    is awarded the Geoethics Medal 2020



    "In recognition of career-long dedication to the highest ethical standards and practices of the geoscience profession, John W. Geissman has earned recognition as the IAPG 2020 Geoethics medalist. He has demonstrated this commitment to geoethics in his work with international geoscience professional societies by applying the highest standards of research and publication through his leadership as Editor/Associate Editor of the Geological Society of America Bulletin, Journal of Geophysical Research, Tectonics, and EOS, and as Councilor and Past President of the Geological Society of America. Geissman’s contributions to the profession are recognized by his Fellowship in both the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union. He has imparted the importance of geoethics to generations of students as he has played a leading role in incorporating geoethics training for undergraduate students in the geoscience curriculum, and through his mentorship of over 70  graduate students, from the Colorado School of Mines, to the University of New Mexico, to, finally, the University of Texas at Dallas. His work has extended beyond the geosciences to address issues of contemporary concern such as the teaching of evolution in public schools, and has proactively addressed the importance of conveying the importance of science to society and removing ignorance and fear of science from society. Through his dedication to the highest standards of professional conduct, application of the geosciences in service to society, and concern for the long-term stewardship of Earth, John W. Geissman has lived the ideals defined by the International Association for Promoting Geoethics, and is most deserving of the 2020 Geoethics Medal."

    ​John W. Geissman has graduate studies at the University of Michigan (1974) and is a researcher of the highest order, applying the methods of paleomagnetism and rock magnetism to “big questions” in geoscience including studies of the tectonic evolution of the western United States, central and southern Mexico, and the Himalayas, the Karoo intrusive suite (South Africa), paleomagnetism and magnetostratigraphy of Permian/Triassic strata in west Texas and the Karoo Basin, South Africa, and western China, Xinjiang Province, and studies of magnetic fabrics of igneous rocks using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility/anisotropy of magnetic remanence methods. A common thread in this body of research is an absolute commitment to the integrity of data, data products, and their interpretations. In this research, John has selflessly shared his experience and results in numerous collaborative research projects, and has invited students and colleagues to work with him in his state-of-the-art paleomagnetism laboratory. John has long served the geoscience professions as Editor/Associate Editor of the Geological Society of America Bulletin, Journal of Geophysical Research, most recently Tectonics, and EOS, and as Councilor and Past President of the Geological Society of America. John was one of the early innovators who has advocated for inclusion of geoethics instruction into classes across the geoscience curriculum—an essential contribution to the long-term health and growth of the geoscience professions. And, John has addressed the persistent issues of diversity and equity in the geosciences, particularly as these affect women and people from underrepresented populations.


    Geoethics Medal recipients
    • 2020: John Geissman (USA)
    • 2019: Linda Gundersen (USA)
    • 2018: Chris King (United Kingdom)

    Geoethics Medal website


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    IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics