The 4th GIRAF Workshop took place recently in Maputo, Mozambique (6th to 9th October 2015) with the participation of many African and non-African experts. The IAGETH Vice-President for Africa, Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos, attended the meeting, as well as Prof. Aberra Mogessie, President of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf), with whom IAGETH has signed a MoU, and also member of the IAGETH Senior Advisory Board (ISAB). Other IAGETH people attended, as the Nigeria-NC, Prof. Gbenga Okunlola, and Dr. Enas Ahmed from Egypt.
During this workshop it was decided that GIRAF should be handled to African hands. Kristine Asch, from BGR-Germany has been the coordinator up to now. For that, a proposal of new statutes was discussed, which has still to be wider discussed before final approval. During the discussions, Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos suggested that the concept of Geoethics should be included in the new statutes, which was unanimously accepted and approved by the audience. Hopefully the final version will keep this suggestion.
On a subsequent later move, it was suggested that MoU should be signed between GIRAF “new owners” and IAGETH. Because this happened at the end of the year, with people in holidays and festivities, only now was it possible to sign the MoU by the two parties, which can be read in this link. Prof. Jesús Martínez-Frías, President of IAGETH, and Dr. Mesfin Gebremichael, Deputy chair of the GIRAF signed the document
The objective of the MoU is to bring the two organizations together to raise the awareness in African geoscientists to the importance of giving due attention to ethical aspects and issues during their professional activities
IAGETH thanks the excellent work of Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos!
