Extraordinary Session of COMEST, Paris, France, 28-30 June 2010

The members of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology convened in an Extraordinary Session at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 28 to 30 June 2010.

During the session, COMEST members focused on:

  • environmental ethics, with an emphasis on ethical principles for climate change policies and the contribution of COMEST to consideration of the desirability of a declaration of ethical principles in relation to climate;
  • ethics of science, on which a COMEST report is scheduled in 2011, with particular reference to implementation of the 1974 Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers;
  • ethics of nanotechnologies; and
  • new issues in relation to converging technologies.

The Session was an ideal occasion to examine ethical issues in relation to science and technology in our current context and their repercussions in the future. It also functioned as forum for the exploration of new directions in the ethics of science and technology particularly with respect to converging technologies.

During the opening session, Henk ten Have, Director of the Division of ethics of science and technology, delivered the welcome address on behalf of the UNESCO Director-General. Alain Pompidou, President of COMEST, introduced the work of the Commission.

COMEST is an advisory body and forum of reflection composed of 18 independent experts as well as 11 ex officio representatives of international scientific bodies. The Commission is mandated to formulate ethical principles that could provide decision-makers with criteria that go beyond economics.

Documents

Contact
John Crowley, j.crowley(at)unesco.org
Tel.: + 33 (0)1 45 68 38 28

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