Giuseppe Di Capua

The main goal of this study is to emphasise the geotourism potential and the values of geoethics as drivers of rural development in the territory of the Knjaževac municipality, which is one of the richest areas in Serbia in terms of geoheritage. Numerous objects of geomorphological and hydrological heritage stand out in an area of 1,202 km2. Despite this richness in geoheritage, the potential of geotourism development has been ignored by many stakeholders, and the geoheritage of this area has not been sufficiently explored and proposed for tourism purposes. This study makes an inventory of geosites in the municipality of Knjaževac. The selected sites were evaluated by applying the Modified Geosite Assessment Model to discover the most suitable geosites for future geotourism development, in order to select the geosite that possesses the greatest geotourism potential to support rural development. The results uncover information about the major areas of improvement for each evaluated g...

Novel measurement technologies, additional sensors and increasing data processing capacities offer new opportunities to answer some of the currently most pressing societal and environmental questions. They also contribute to the fact that the available data volume will continue to increase. At the same time, the requirements for those providing such data rise and the needs of users to access it. The EPOS Delivery Framework aims to support this endeavour in the solid Earth domain by providing access to data, products, and services supporting multidisciplinary analyses for a wide range of users. Based on this example, we look at the most pressing issues from when data, products, and services are made accessible, to access principles, ethical issues related to its collection and use as well as with respect to their promotion. Among many peculiarities, we shed light on a common component that affects all fields equally: change. Not only will the amount and type of data, products, and se...

The communication process between the geoscientists and native communities in risk areas can significantly affect disaster prevention and land use planning. In Peru, the problem of disaster prevention is a fundamental policy due to unfamiliarity and deficiency of the associate information on the population. It is possible that talk of disaster prevention it will be an unlikely ideal in a country where most towns have settled on unplanned projects by the constant change and the lack of interest from the authorities in such topics. However, it is anachronistic that the rural communities and towns continue to live without a plan to enable them to improve their quality of life. The correct use of geoscience information in the mass media can help in this work. The characteristics of the enterprise in Peru require more training by professionals in the geosciences and support communication specialists. In this paper, we analyze the problem of communication for disaster prevention in Peru, ...

All geoscience practices have evident repercussions on society. Geoscientists have knowledge and skills to investigate, manage, and intervene on the geosphere, defined as the component of the Earth system constituted by the land surface, the solid Earth, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, and the atmosphere. This implies ethical obligations. The adoption of ethical principles is essential if geoscientists want to best serve the public good. Ethical responsibility by all geoscientists requires a more active role while interacting with society. Geoethics, which investigate the ethical, social, and cultural implications of geoscience research, practice, and education, represents a new way of thinking about and practicing earth sciences, focusing on issues related to the relationship of the geoscientist with the self, colleagues, and society in the broadest sense. In this paper, we define some of the main values relevant to geoethics.

Geoethics deals with ethical, social, and cultural repercussions of the research and practice in earth sciences. It is considered the meeting point between geosciences, philosophy, and sociology. Geoethics aims to give references and guidelines for finding socio-economic solutions to practical problems of human life that are compatible with respect of the environment and protection of nature and land. Among its goals, geoethics promotes a critical analysis of the use and management of geo-resources. A honest reflection on ethics of a sustainable development must accompany the research and practice also in the oil field. Oil and gas are potentially pollutant but necessary. Even more in this case, geoethics can be a helpful tool to ensure attention to the environment, excellence of the technology, and a high level of professionalism. Professional codes of conduct, research integrity, and best practices have to be based on shared values. It has to go beyond geographical and disciplinar...

Geoethics consists of the researches and reflections on those values upon which are based the appropriate practices concerning human activities interesting Geosphere. Since Geoethics deals with ethical, social and cultural implications of geological research, it also reflects the opportunity for any researcher to become more conscious of the social role and responsibilities in conducting activities related to the environmental management and geo-resources exploitation. In this context Geoethics would also represent a concrete tool to sensitize and influence the awareness of society opening questions on the reliability and sustainability of the technological options presently proposed as a way to answer the huge global energy demand. Aim of this note is to generally discuss the role of geoscientists in the framework of the development of a sustainable energy supply chain related to georesources exploitation, in terms of making ethical choices during each phase of the process, from th...

Geoethics consists of the researches and reflections on those values upon which are based the appropriate practices concerning human activities interesting Geosphere. Since Geoethics deals with ethical, social and cultural implications of geological research, it also reflects the opportunity for any researcher to become more conscious of the social role and responsibilities in conducting activities related to the environmental management and geo-resources exploitation. In this context Geoethics would also represent a concrete tool to sensitize and influence the awareness of society opening questions on the reliability and sustainability of the technological options presently proposed as a way to answer the huge global energy demand. Aim of this note is to generally discuss the role of geoscientists in the framework of the development of a sustainable energy supply chain related to georesources exploitation, in terms of making ethical choices during each phase of the process, from th...

The Geoscience community is called to play an important role in society: helping in the defense against natural risks, orienting on global issues like climate change, looking for new ways to source natural resources from a sustainable perspective, building a knowledgeable society and help to improve the living conditions of human life especially in low income countries. This implies geoscientists are more aware of their social responsibility and capable of working by the principles of integrity, honesty with respect for land, water and air...

The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake sequence includes the April 6 Mw6.3 main shock and triggered events on April 7 and 9, each recorded on a digital network having five stations on the hanging wall of the main shock fault. We describe a geometric source model drawing upon inversions by others. We describe record-specific ground motion data processing that includes the incorporation of static displacements of up to 13 cm (downdrop of hanging wall). The resulting database includes 47, 38, and 31 corrected triaxial recordings from the April 6, 7, and 9 events, respectively. We present site conditions for recording stations, including recent surface wave and borehole geophysics. We demonstrate that the high-frequency data are weaker than expected for normal fault earthquakes of these magnitudes and that the data attenuate with distance at rates generally consistent with modified next generation attenuation (NGA) equations for Italy that were available prior to the event.

Objectives of the WP13 are: • increase the awareness of both the scientists and the public on the importance of ethical aspects in Earth sciences; • establish a shared ethical framework of reference, to be adopted by RIs governing bodies; • increase the awareness of RIs management and operational levels and of the individual involved scientists on their social role in conducting research activities and research work environment; • assess the ethical and social aspects related to the results achieved and deliverables released within the project. They include:

Natural sites in urban spaces can have a key role in citizen well-being, providing fundamental ecosystem services to the population and assuring a multitude of benefits. Therefore, cities should guarantee a number of green areas and their conservation in time as an essential part of urban architecture. In this framework, cooperation between scientists, decision makers and citizens is critical to ensure the enhancement of green public spaces. Social and scientific communities are called to work in a tuned way to combine scientific knowledge and methods to local socio-economic contexts, driven by the values of geoethics. The Bullicante Lake case study, discussed in this work, represents an example of application of geoethical values, such as inclusiveness, sharing, sustainability and conservation of bio- and geodiversity. This urban lake in Rome appeared following illegal excavation works in 1992 and remained closed until 2016 favouring re-naturalization processes. Over time, this sit...

<p>Environmental problems and the ways in which humanity must ensure its well-being on planet Earth are fundamental issues for today's ethics. Ethics must be rethought in the light of the modern ecological crisis to give answers that hold together environmental, economic and social issues. Geoethics, which has been defined as “research and reflection on the values that underpin appropriate behaviors and practices, wherever human activities interact with the Earth system” (Peppoloni et al. 2019: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12010-8_2), can implement an ecological humanism, integrating some principles of human ethics (dignity, freedom and responsibility) with the necessary duties that each human being must have towards the Earth system (Peppoloni and Di Capua 2021: https://doi.org /10.3390/su131810024). So, human progress is at the same time an economic, social, cultural, political development process which is carried out in compliance with human rights and the delicate ecosystemic balances of which the human being is an integral part.</p><p>In the vision of geoethics, the human being becomes aware of its action as a modifying agent of the environment, but also of its non-centrality within the natural ecosystem. In this sense, ecological humanism allows to overcome the contrasts present in the different positions of environmental ethics regarding the human-nature connection (weak and strong anthropocentrism, biocentrism, ecocentrism with its geocentric extension). These positions, despite the progressive attempt to overcome the rigidities present in each of them, however taken individually do not seem to respond to human complexity and overcome the dichotomy between the human being and nature, and in fact are creating obstacles on the operational level, which if not solved, risk slowing down the search for solutions to anthropogenic global problems.</p><p>We argue that human beings living in the Anthropocene must recompose in their naturalness the different visions that have been provided on the human-nature nexus.</p><p>This recomposition has to consider that the human being is:</p><ul><li>intrinsically and perceptively anthropocentric, as it cannot escape its specific nature, the forms of its way of thinking, the biological, emotional, spiritual, and rational complexity through which it constructs its vision of the world on the basis of its species peculiarities;</li> <li>dynamically anthropogenic, since it builds its ecological niche to create its own operational space, which it modifies if necessary to try to improve one's living conditions.</li> </ul><p>And in the geoethical perspective, the human being must evolve to become also:</p><ul><li>relationally biocentric (in the recognition of the value of life of any living being) and ecocentric (in the attitude of respect towards the Earth system in its entirety);</li> <li>geocentric in its identity (when it develops a sense of supranational belonging to a terrestrial citizenship and takes care of its dwelling place).</li> </ul><p>Therefore, geoethics seeks to go beyond the oppositions and to make a synthesis, by saving the best intuitions of the categories of environmental ethics and using them to develop a new vision of human being, through which implementing an operational logic that can drive the human progress.</p>

In this paper the results of a detailed seismic microzonation, performed at Sant’Agata Fossili (Piemonte region, northern Italy) are presented. We study the local seismic response of this small village using a level 3, that is the most accurate level following the Italian code of seismic microzonation. The activity steps consist in a gradual widening of knowledge of the different aspects of the amplification phenomena. A multidisciplinary approach has been performed to obtain the local seismic response: including a study of local geology, geophysical and geotechnical characterization of the lithologies, and numerical and experimental analyses. We finally compare the obtained elastic response spectra to the prescribed spectra of the Italian Building Code (in Italian: Norme Tecniche per le Costruzioni). Our results show the geologic and geophysical differences of the subsoil, that produce different local seismic response in terms of amplification factors and acceleration response spec...

The development of geoethics is at a turning point. After having strengthened its theoretical structure and launched new initiatives aimed at favouring the spread of geoethical thinking, geoethics must deal with some issues concerning the social organization of dominant cultures, the existing economic structures, and the political systems that govern the world. Nowadays geoethics must move towards the construction of a pedagogical proposal, which has a formative purpose, for future generations and the policy leaders, but also a political one, in the noble sense of the term, that is, concerning the action of citizens who take part in public life. The pedagogical and political project of geoethics will have to be founded on the principles of dignity, freedom, and responsibility on which to ground a set of values for global ethics in order to face planetary anthropogenic changes. Furthermore, this project must be inclusive, participatory, and proactive, without falling into simplistic ...

Geoethics is not simply professional ethics. Originally, it was developed in the context of geosciences to increase the awareness of geoscientists to their cultural and social role, but over time expanded to define a way in which humans can rethink their relationship with the Earth system in the light of principles and values that can provide a healthy and safe life in respect for geo-ecosystems. The theoretical framework of geoethics has now consolidated, and it has become the proposal on which to base a global ethics for the new millennium. This chapter outlines the scientific and cultural reference framework in which geoethics developed; the theoretical foundations of geoethics and its main characteristics; global anthropogenic issues under a geoethical perspective; ethical and social aspects related to two potential human activities respectively to combat global warming (geoengineering); and to provide for the growing demand for georesources (deep-sea/ocean mining). The authors ...

Establishing sustainable and responsible speleotourism development is a major challenge and involves complex activities. Adequate theoretical starting point is the application of geoethical values related to the conservation and protection of the caves to be used for touristic purposes. Positive and negative cases of human behaviors towards speleological geoheritage are discussed, in order to highlight what should be done in cave management to avoid malpractices and on what elements could be founded adequate strategies aimed at promoting sustainable speleotourism. This is important to tourism management organizations involved in the promotion of caves and in creating economic opportunities for local populations, while respecting cave ecosystems. Modern cave management must be focused on the protection of the cave ecosystems, finding ways to achieve at the same time an economic development of local communities. But this approach needs the adoption of a geoethical framework of values ...

L’obiettivo della ricerca è stata la messa a punto di un modello di rischio sismico per Sistemi Urbani con approccio multi-livello, utilizzando l’analogia con le reti neuronali, finalizzato sia ad una valutazione di confronto tra centri urbani, sulla base di indicatori di rischio, che ad una valutazione predittiva delle conseguenze di un evento sismico atteso. Lo studio dei Sistemi Urbani viene utilmente condotto per “livelli” di approfondimento del modello, con l’obiettivo di valutare dapprima sinteticamente (ad esempio attraverso le informazioni contenute in banche-dati esistenti) la propensione alla perdita di capacità di un numero elevato di centri urbani, da cui ricavare le situazioni di rischio più elevato, su cui occorra effettuare approfondimenti o stabilire priorità di ulteriori indagini (Livello 0). Qualora sia possibile effettuare studi di maggiore dettaglio sui centri urbani ad elevato rischio, si procederà con indagini e rilievi anche speditivi, valutando le perdite di ...

The interest of geoscientists in (geo)ethical aspects of geoscience knowledge, education, research and practice is rising and today geoethics has a significant visibility. This prominence is the result of hard work done in the last 4 years by the IAPG – International Association for Promoting Geoethics (http://www.geoethics.org), a
not-for-profit, multidisciplinary, scientific network (with more than 1350 members in 107 countries) established for widening the discussion and creating awareness about problems of ethics applied to the geosciences.
IAPG has produced a strong conceptual substratum on which to base the future development of geoethics, by clarifying the meaning of the word Geoethics, formalizing its definition, and identifying a framework of
reference values on which the geoscience community can base more effective codes of conduct. IAPG members have published numerous books and articles in peer reviewed international journals, and organized scientific sessions to bring geoethics at the most important geoscience conferences. Geoethical issues have been included in the European project ENVRI-Plus, dedicated to the environmental and solid Earth research infrastructures.
Moreover, the most prestigious geoscience organizations around the world now recognize geoethics as an important issue that warrants attention.
This success was confirmed by the high quality of contents and the large participation of scientists in the 6 technical sessions and single panel session on geoethics organized by IAPG at the 35th IGC – International Geological Congress, held in 2016 in Cape Town (South Africa), with 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).
IAPG considers the 35th IGC the scientific event that opened a new phase for Geoethics and for the Association. In order to celebrate this passage, the IAPG has produced the "Cape Town Statement on Geoethics" (CTSG), a document recognized as the result of an international effort to focus the attention of geoscientists on the development of shared policies, guidelines, strategies and tools, with the long-range goal of fostering the regular adoption of ethical values and practices in the geoscience community. The final document (available at
http://www.geoethics.org/ctsg) sums the values, concepts, and contents developed in the first 4-year activity of IAPG, giving a perspective for the future development of geoethics.
This presentation illustrates the content of the “Cape Town Statement on Geoethics”, that is now supported officially by several geoscience organizations.

This book contributes to the current discussion on geoethics and global ethics within the geoscience and humanities communities. It provides new content and insights into developing convergent human actions in response to global anthropogenic changes, based on perspectives that make it possible to combine geoscience knowledge with humanities and social sciences approaches. Selected authors present their reflections, findings and insights regarding the vision of geoethics (ethics of responsibility towards the Earth) as global ethics from philosophical, humanities and social sciences perspectives. In addition, they discuss ethical frameworks from diverse cultural traditions, searching for points of intersection with geoethics.

The goal: for global environmental problems to be managed via multi-perspective approaches that can more effectively accommodate complexity. Combining the strengths of the geosciences, humanities and social sciences can pave the way for a paradigm shift in how human societies develop adaptive, sustainable responses to environmental changes and societal inequalities.

Water is life. Water is everywhere on the planet, and humans search for it in the space trying to get indications about possible presence of extraterrestrial life. In future, we might fight for water.
The management of water resources, the access to drinking water and sanitation are issues that involve technical–scientific aspects, and also problems of social equity, intra- and intergenerational justice.
According to the 2019 World Water Development Report of United Nations, “… the global water demand is expected to continue increasing at the current rate until 2050. Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing 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 increase, as demand for water grows, and the effects of climate change intensify.
Water is an unalienable human right, a guarantee of the dignity of each individual. And even if each nation has the right to develop policies to safeguard its interests and priorities, nobody can contravene the fundamental right to access water that vital resource on which life on Earth depends.

In a volcanic crisis, authorized decision-makers must balance the social and economic costs of mitigating actions, such as evacuation, against the potential human losses if such actions are insufficient. In making their decisions, advice is needed from volcanologists on the eruption probability. Therefore, there should be a clear separation in the roles of volcanologists and decisionmakers; the volcanologists should advise on the volcano hazard and alternative potential scenarios but refrain from involvement in making decisions. Currently, volcanologists are responsible for setting volcano alert levels. Given the small handful of distinct alert levels, there is inherent ambiguity and substantial uncertainty in the interpretation of individual levels. Furthermore, changing an alert level may automatically trigger actions by decision-makers. This would violate the principle of separation of responsibility and may result in unwelcome pressure being applied to volcanologists. Just as physicians can invoke medical ethics in resisting pressure to alter their advice, so volcanologists can invoke geoethics. Freedom to abide by their scientific beliefs is a basic tenet of geoethics.