Friday, April 27, 2018


The 4th edition of MINERLIMA is coming!


MinerLima 2018, International Exhibition of Minerals (Feria Internacional de Minerales), is held in Lima (Peru).

Venue: Faculty of Geology, Mining, Metallurgy and Geography engineering from National University of San Marcos (San Miguel District, Lima-Peru).

Dates: 22-24 November 2018.

Activities planned: short courses, conferences and workshops (for children and the general public), showcase (exhibition-sale of mineral samples), geological excursions and guided tours (post-event).


Erika Gabriel
Organizers: Erika Gabriel, Sonia Bermudez, Hernán Parra, Edmundo Alfaro, Jorge Sáez, Diego Benites, Luis Araujo (IAPG-Peru).

MinerLima is organized annually by IAPG-Peru from 2015.








IAPG-Peru logo
Presentation of MinerLima 2018 by Erika Gabriel (Coordinator of MinerLima):

Website:

Facebook page:

Blog:



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

Tuesday, April 17, 2018


Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco 
is the new member of the IAPG Board of Experts
on Geoethics in Paleontology


The IAPG Board of Experts has a new member (Corresponding Citizen Scientist  - CCS): Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco. His topic is "Geoethics in Paleontology".

Juan Carlos is a geologist and palaeontologist (ORCID Code 0000-0003-4213-6144) with graduate and doctorate degrees from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Since 1988 he is a Permanent Research Scientist of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), presently at the Institute of Geosciences (IGEO), Madrid (Spain).
He is the chairman of the research group on the Perigondwanan marine Palaeozoic (CSIC Code 642852), corresponding academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Argentina, and honorary member of the Spanish Association of Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists (AGGEP).
He was Director of the Institute of Economic Geology (CSIC-UCM) from 2001‒2006 and former Vice-Chairman of the IUGS International Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (ICS-IUGS, 2004‒2012).
His main research interest focuses on several invertebrate fossil groups (graptolites, trilobites, molluscs, and others) ranging from the Ordovician to Devonian in the peri-Gondwanan area of SW Europe, North Africa and South America, including aspects of biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography and faunal dynamics; he also worked in Ordovician chronostratigraphy and biochronology of the Gondwanan domain. 
His scientific results totalize nearly 500 works including research papers (WoS h-index=14), books and geologic maps, besides the discovery and formal characterisation of 113 new palaeontological taxa from the Palaeozoic.
He has also directed 20 competitive research projects and programmes on bilateral cooperation, seven PhD theses in Spanish and Portuguese universities, and was the lead organiser of important meetings, such as the 11th International Ordovician Symposium, the 6th International Graptolite Conference, and the 1st International Conference on the Lower Palaeozoic of Ibero-America, among others.


IAPG Board of Experts: 
http://www.geoethics.org/experts


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

Monday, April 16, 2018

INGEMMET officially supports
the Cape Town Statement on Geoethics


Through a letter dated 4 April 2018, Oscar Bernuy Verand, President of INGEMMET, has informed Sandra Villacorta, coordinator of IAPG-Peru, that INGEMMET officially supports the Cape Town Statement on Geoethics (CTSG) by IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics.

INGEMMET (Instituto Geológico, Minero y Metalúrgico - Geological, Mining and Metallurgic Institute of Peru) is the 19th organization/institution supporting/endorsing the CTSG.


Read the Cape Town Statement on Geoethics and look at supporting organizations at: http://www.geoethics.org/ctsg



IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics:

Sunday, April 8, 2018


IAPG events at the
EGU 2018 General Assembly

10, 11, 12 April 2018
Vienna (Austria)


10 April 2018, 19:00-20:00, Room G2

Townhall Meeting TM11
"Seeking Engagement and Input on Harassment and Workplace Climate Issues within the Geoscience Community

Convenership: Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG), Nicholas T. Arndt (EGU), Pranoti Asher (AGI), Vincent Cronin (IAPG), Chloe Hill (EGU), Mary Anne Holmes (University of Nebraska), Christopher Keane (AGI), Chris McEntee (AGU)

A joint event IAPG-AGI-AGU-EGU

Description: Issues related to harassment and workplace climate in the entertainment industry, the scientific enterprise, politics, journalism, and other sectors have made headlines in the U.S. and around the globe in the past few years. Within the scientific community, many efforts are already underway from professional societies to government agencies who are taking the lead to promote a positive culture and protect its community members. Specifically, within the geosciences, the American Geosciences Institute has announced its guidelines for the societies to build their own strategies and policies. The American Geophysical Union has introduced many proactive initiatives which include conversations within academic leadership to specific prevention and intervention programs at its annual meeting. For some years now the IAPG has launched initiatives aimed at understanding the problem and sensitizing the scientific community about negative consequences in ethical and social terms. The IAPG campaign "Zero tolerance towards Harassment and Discrimination" has the goal to promote activities to favour a high level of professionalism and to fight harassment and discrimination within the geoscience community through the cooperation with other geoscience organizations The EGU is starting the discussion in Europe with sessions on sexual harassment and workplace climate issues becoming increasingly prevalent at both the EGU General Assembly and in EGU Blogs.
This town hall will feature invited panelists from AGI, AGU, IAPG, and EGU for discussions of the work in progress as well as audience input, suggestions to combat workplace issue, and Q&A. The goal of the townhall is to have the global geoscience community begin to actively coalesce around a generally accepted set of standards regardless of nationality or parent organization. 



11 April 2018, 15:30-17:00, Room 0.15

Splinter Meeting SMI28 (by invitations only): 
"IAPG business meeting"

Convenership: Silvia Peppoloni and Giuseppe Di Capua

Description: ongoing activities and future initiatives of the IAPG



12 April 2018, 08:30-12:00, Room L7

Session EOS4: 
"Geoethics: ethical, social and cultural implications of geoscience knowledge, education, communication, research and practice"

First part: Geoethics: foundations, cultures and social justice
Second part: Applying geoethical thinking in novel settings: marine and mining

Convenership: Silvia Peppoloni (Italy), Nic Bilham (UK), Martin Bohle (Belgium), Giuseppe Di Capua (Italy), Eduardo Marone (Brazil)

- Oral presentations: 08:30-12:00; Room L7
- Poster presentations: 08:00-19:30, attendance 13:30-15:00; Hall X1

​List of orals and posters with links to abstracts:
http://www.geoethics.org/egu2018



IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics:

Friday, April 6, 2018


International Congress:

GEOETHICS & GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT
Theory and Practice
for a Sustainable Development

21-25 October 2019
Porto (Portugal)

A joint event 
IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics
and
IAH - International Association of Hydrogeologists


First Announcement


Natural resources of our planet are among the main topics of interest for geoethics. Referring to surface and groundwater management, geoethics promotes a prudent and responsible use, and recycling wherever possible, fostering key concepts like sustainability, respect for natural dynamics, and preservation from pollution. In this perspective, geoscientists are called to disseminate correct information on the best way to manage water resources for the benefit of society, and to sensitize public opinion about the active contribution the population can give to the conservation of water in order to avoid the depletion of this essential resource for the life on the planet.
From 2012 the IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics (www.geoethics.org) works for orienting geoscientists towards an ethical approach to water resources. This implies to analyse scientifically the dynamics of human-water systems, to manage carefully problems related to environmental impacts created by human intervention in the natural processes governing surface and groundwater resources, to develop strategies in order to harmonize expectations and requests of various stakeholders, including citizens, industry and policy makers.
The joint congress IAH - IAPG will be an excellent occasion for discussing and sharing values, best practices and strategies to manage water resources for a sustainable future.

Silvia Peppoloni (IAPG Secretary General)


Groundwater is the less visible part of all the water cycle. When water enters the underground world on its way to aquifers, it turns difficult for non-specialists to understand its pathway and the amount of resources under the soil, as well as its possible management. By this reason or because the opportunity comes, there are countries in arid areas using the last aquifers they have to less priority uses, condemning the next generations to look for new water sources, like desalinization, there are countries mining groundwater under the borders of other countries, there are long historic records of groundwater contamination by industry, human settlements, agriculture. And there are new relations between water and energy, for example fracking for gas and oil and the possible implications for groundwater. So, geoethics is something that hydrogeologists will more and more need to have in mind when working with such a sensitive water resource.
A joint congress between IAH (www.iah.org) and IAPG will be a partnership that can lead hydrogeologists and other specialists on geoethics to think about our profession and the implications our actions can have for the world and for our future generations.

António Chambel (IAH President)


Download the announcement (pdf file):
http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/5195a5_bf2aa87fea96463fb86518fecb1f522e.pdf


IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics:

Thursday, April 5, 2018


Webinar:
PROFESSIONALISM AND GEOETHICS: CREATING A WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYONE CAN SUCCEED

Thursday, April 12, 2018 1:00 PM EDT | 1 hour

Presenter:
David W. Mogk
Professor of Geology at Montana State University
and IAPG Board of Experts on "Geo-education and Teaching Geoethics"


David W. Mogk
Description: Professionalism refers to the attitudes and behaviors that impact interpersonal relations in the workplace, the foundations of which are based on the concepts of power, trust, respect, responsibility, justice, and fairness. The nature of the Geosciences (e.g., working with an incomplete record, temporal and spatial scales beyond human perception, uncertainty in natural systems), and the geoscience work environment (e.g., in the field, laboratory, with extensive travel) presents many situations where ethical dilemmas may arise. Recent high-visibility transgressions have brought special attention to sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace. Everyone has a right to a safe, inclusive, supportive, and productive work environment and a high bar must be set for both students and faculty to ascribe to the highest professional standards of the discipline. This webinar will introduce topics that contribute to workplace "climate" (e.g., microaggressions, implicit bias, empowering bystanders), and will provide suggestions for personal and institutional actions that can be taken to ensure that everyone can succeed in your workplace environment.

More information and registration:
https://www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/webinars/professionalism-and-geoethics


IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics:

Wednesday, April 4, 2018


Geoethics - what do you think?

Geologists are not immune from ethical considerations,
say David Ovadia and Nic Bilham

(article published in Geoscientist Online, April issue - 2018, Geological Society of London)

David Ovadia is Coordinator of IAPG-UK
Nic Bilham is IAPG Continental Coordinator for Europe

mailto: davidovadia@outlook.com



David Ovadia
‘Geoethics’ is a term that is both obvious and abstruse. Unlike our colleagues in the medical and biological sciences, who are often subject to intense ethical controls, often prescribed in law, Earth scientists practise in a relatively unregulated environment.

Pharmaceutical companies have been known to cancel expensive drug development programmes if it emerges that the product may improve the quality of life but not its extent (or vice versa) because of fears of subsequent litigation. Geologists rarely think of themselves as subject to lawyers’ concerns in quite the same way.  But this does not mean that we are immune from ethical considerations.


Nic Bilham
Mapping
A mapping geologist might be tempted to ignore an analysis or an outcrop that does not fit cleanly into the model being developed, or to make some convenient assumptions about the rocks in remote and inaccessible places beyond easy reach. A mining company geologist might be put under pressure by the board to be more optimistic about the economic viability of a mineral resource, especially when this could swing a critical investment, and perhaps preserve the person’s job.
The volcanologist responsible for advising government whether or not to order a massively expensive and disruptive evacuation is exposed to intense political, legal and media pressures, while an engineering geologist might feel it to be excessive and career-limiting caution to repeatedly refuse to sign off a bridge or tunnel scheme despite nagging doubts.

Behaviour
In the teaching environment, being ensconced with a group of people for long periods in a laboratory, field camp or research vessel requires the highest standards of ethical and moral behaviour by all parties. Geologists are occasionally exposed to attempts at bribery even though this is strictly illegal in many jurisdictions. And the impact of many geologists’ work on wider society is coming under increasing public scrutiny. Acting ethically at all times can be challenging.

IAPG
The International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG) aims at creating awareness about the application of ethical principles to theoretical and practical aspects of geosciences. It is affiliated to the International Union of Geological Sciences and the Geological Society of London, among others, as a not-for-profit association with 1816 members in 123 countries, and has a network of 28 national sections, including the United Kingdom. Details can be found on its web site at: www.geoethics.org.

The present authors are interested to hear your views on what efforts the Geological Society, the IAPG and others should be put into creating and promoting greater ethical awareness, through discussions, meetings, education and enhanced codes of conduct; and on topics such as the desirability of regulatory or voluntary approaches to setting standards and spreading best practice, at national and global level, and how this may be achieved.

Geoethics overlaps with issues relating to professional standards, accreditation, indemnity and ‘ombudsmanship’, and no attempt is being made to distract from those important areas. We simply invite readers to share their views on geoethics, by contacting one or both of the authors.  We will report back at a later stage with a synthesis of opinion.

This article in the Geoscientist Online website:
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/April-2018/Geoethics-what-do-you-think


IAPG - International Association for Promoting Geoethics: