Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change€¦ · Environmental ethics and the ethics...
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Extraordinary Session of COMEST, Paris, France 12 – 13 November 2008 Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change 12 November 2008 1 World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change Extraordinary Session of COMEST Paris, France 12 November 2008 Presenter Presenter : Johan Hattingh : Johan Hattingh Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University University
Transcript of Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change€¦ · Environmental ethics and the ethics...
Extraordinary Session of
COMEST, Paris, France
12 – 13 November 2008
Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change
12 November 2008
1
World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
and Technology
Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change
Extraordinary Session of COMESTParis, France
12 November 2008
PresenterPresenter: Johan Hattingh: Johan HattinghStellenboschStellenbosch UniversityUniversity
Extraordinary Session of
COMEST, Paris, France
12 – 13 November 2008
Environmental ethics and the ethics of climate change
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World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
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Working group on an ethis of climate change
• A new area suggested by Bureau of COMEST in meeting of May 2008
• Members– Johan Hattingh (South Africa)
– Ruben Apressyan (Russian Federation)
– Nadja Tolemache (New Zealand)
– John Crowley (COMEST Secretariat)
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Working group on an ethics of climate change
• Brief: Produce a preliminary discussion document in which the themes of an ethics of climate change are reviewed
• First meeting: 1-2 July 2008, Nahabino, Moscow
• Interested members of COMEST can join this working group
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Themes included in the discussion document
• The context of work on climate change– Links to other work done in UNESCO– Links to other work done in UN organizations– Links to previous work done in COMEST on
environmental ethics
• Conceptual issues around global warming and climate change
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Themes of discussion document (ctnd)
• Key ethical issues related to climate change
• Existing normative instruments available to the international community– General and specific principles?– New principles?
• Possible responses to ethical issues
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Status and aims of discussion document
• Not an official position paper
• Merely to introduce themes and stimulate debate, with a view to identify– Areas of further investigation– Further actions to take– A timeframe and process to take the themes further
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Links: to other work done in UNESCO
• A UNESCO Strategy for Action on Climate Change– Principles were approved in Oct 2008 by Executive
Board – Draft strategy submitted in 2009
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Links: to other work done in UNESCO
• Aims of UNESCO strategy on CC:– To build and maintain the requisite knowledge base,
and adopt measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change, contribute to the mitigation of its causes, and strengthen sustainable development (180 EX/16, p. 1)
– To promote intersectoral cooperation in UNESCO
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Links: to other work done in UNESCO
• UNESCO’s understanding of the CC challenge– Section 2 and 3 of the Strategy (180 EX/16, p. 3)
• COMEST can contribute to inputs of the Social Science Sector to UNESCO’s Strategy by forming a better understanding of the ethical challenges related to climate change– Analytic process to identify and respond to ethical
challenges related to adaptation and mitigation
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Links: to other work done by United Nations
• COMEST build on work done by– IPCC (in particular AR4) – UNFCCC– The Bali Road Map of COP-13 (Dec 2007)
• Difficulties to finding international consensus on Bali Road Map is noted as area for further investigation
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Links: to previous work on environmental ethics
• The ethics of energy (1997)
• The ethics of freshwater use (2000)• The precautionary principle (2005)
• The state of the art in environmental ethics (book published in 2006: Environmental Ethics and International Policy (ed: Henk ten Have)
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Links: to previous work on environmental ethics
• Draft policy document on environmental ethics– Discussed at 2 Ordinary Sessions of COMEST
(Bangkok and Dakar)– Consensus on principles was not found– Decision:
• To allow time for further discussion on central principles• To initiate work on the teaching of environmental ethics
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Current work on environmental ethics
• Moscow– A summer school on “Environmental ethics in
University education”, 1-5 July 2008, Nahabino, Moscow.
– Ecological ethics in the System of Bioethical Education in Belarus”
• Seminars, educational program and manual development, capacity-building trainings for teachers and awareness-raising campaigns.
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Current work on environmental ethics
• Dakar – Planned activities:– Seminar on how to integrate environmental ethics in school
curricula in primary school of Senegal– Seminar on how to integrate environmental ethics in university
curricula of 10 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Chad, Togo
– Seminar on the ethical dimensions of climate change in cooperation with the International Francophone Secretariat for Environmental Evaluation (SIFEE), Niamey.
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Current work on environmental ethics
• Bangkok – Ethics of Energy Technologies in Asia and the Pacific– Focus on ethical issues of energy-related
technologies, and related environmental and human security issues
– 14 working groups– Dialogues within and between participating countries
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World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
and Technology Conceptual issues
• The greenhouse effect– A natural, physical process by which thermal radiation emitted by
the oceans and land, is absorbed by greenhouse gasses (GHGs) present in the atmosphere and reradiated back to earth (H20, CO2, CH4, N2O, O3)
– This makes life possible on earth– Human emissions of GHGs intensifies the greenhouse effect,
thus causing global warming
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World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
and Technology Conceptual issues
• Global warming– The gradual increase, observed or projected, in global
surface temperature, as one of the consequences of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic emissions. (IPPC 2007)
– Human induced global warming is caused by excessive emissions of GHGs – noticeable from 1750
Extraordinary Session of
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World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge
and Technology Conceptual issues
• Climate change– A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to
human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variabilityobservable over comparable time periods (UNFCC, Article 1)
– Can include global cooling; currently entails global warming, and long term changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, windpatterns, and aspects of extreme weather, including droughts, heavy rainfall, heat waves, and intense tropical storms
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and Technology Conceptual issues
• An ethics of climate change– Can only address matters that fall within the ambit of
human agency, i.e.– Human activity that causes climate change– Human efforts to reduce its negative effects– Human efforts to adapt to effects of cc that cannot be
avoided
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Central questions of an ethics of climate change
1. What should be done to reverse the trends in global climate change that are already present?
2. What should be done to adapt to climate change that cannot be avoided because of past, and thus irreversible human generated GHG emissions?
3. What is the value basis of our concerns and responses?
4. Can we draw upon, and merely extend already existing values and principles?
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Complicating characteristics of cc
• Dispersion of causes and effects• Fragmentation of agency• Institutional inadequacy• Scientific uncertainty• Cognitive problems to envision the challenge
– CC is a resilient problem, with non-linear, cumulative effects, that are seriously backloaded
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Approaches to the challenges of cc
• Scientific approach• Practical approach• Political approach
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The scientific approach to cc
• Factual basis of claims about climate change• Areas of uncertainty [more about projections
future trends, than human causes of cc]• How to deal with uncertainty in a responsible
manner?• Is the precautionary principle adequate to help
us deal with scientific uncertainty about cc?
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The approach of practical experience
• Threats to / of:– Lives of peoples and animals living on small islands, large river
deltas, low lying areas– Property, wealth and livelihoods of victims of regular floods or
droughts– Health of people exposed to disease vectors that shifted in range– Cultural heritage prone to sudden irreversible submergence – Local, regional and global ecosystems– Possible mass migrations of victims of cc
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The approach of practical experience
• Threats to / of (cntnd):– Possible threats to economy or health status of countries forced
to accept cc refugees– Possible threats to the world order and the world economy– Dignity of people who become victims of cc
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The political approach to cc
• Focus on collective and coordinated action of all of the nations of the world:– Consensus on policy options?– National sovereignty?– Different interests of different nations?– Long term commitments vs immediate disaster relief?
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A values approach to climate change
• The working group suggested that a values approach should inform an ethics of climate change
• That focus on:– The good of individuals and communities (human and non-
human)– The virtues (or excellences) that promote this good (e.g.
solidarity and unity between individuals and within communities;not causing harm; contributing towards other’s good; non-violence; justice; fairness; tolerance; respect for other’s dignity)
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A values approach to climate change
• Also highlights the link between foreknowledge and the duty to act on it
• Acknowledge – That effects are also ethically important– The duty to actively pursue knowledge on impact of human
actions on global climate system– The duty to share that knowledge when it is available– The duty to act timeously a appropriately on that knowledge
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A values approach to climate change
• Also focus on human rights: how the effects of climate change, or policy responses impact on human rights
• Or conversely, if victims of climate change can legitimately appeal to human rights– To stop others from causing cc
– To compel others to do something about cc
– To be accommodated in another country or region their own becomeuninhabitable because of cc
– To claim compensation for damages because of cc
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A values approach to climate change
• Also focus on the role of risk and its uncertainty in efforts to respond to cc
• Here the focus falls on:– Risk assessment models– Probability assessment– Willingness to accept risks (risk as subjective factor)
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Key ethical issues of climate change
• Distributive justice– Those who cause cc, do not suffer its negative effects
• Compensatory justice– Can victims claim compensation for damages?
• Procedural justice– Who should participate in which processes of decision-making
on climate change policy responses?– Who are included, who are excluded, why and how?
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Key ethical issues of climate change
• Collective and shared responsibility– Some nations can, but do not act on cc challenges– What role does the following play in not acting:
• The practice of discounting• Scientific uncertainty
• Conditionality (no action until everyone else acts)
• Damage to national economies• Waiting for new technologies to mature
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The ethical basis of concerns about cc
• Threatens the well-being (and survival) of humans and non-humans, and the conditions making it possible– Ecological stability– Global peace and security– Sustainable development
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Existing normative instruments available
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)• The Earth Charter• UNFCCC• UN Convention on Biological Diversity (5 June 1992)• UNESCO Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present
Generations towards Future Generations (1997)• The Kyoto Protocol• The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights
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Existing principles relevant to cc
• The right to life, liberty and personal security• The right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-
being of people … including food, clothing, housing and medical care
• A social and international order in which the rights and freedoms of the UDHR can be fully realised
• The right to access the benefits of scientific progress (which implies the duty of sharing scientific knowledge)
• Acknowledgement of the importance of biodiversity and its conservation as a common concern of humankind
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Existing principles relevant to cc
• The precautionary principle• Shared by differentiated responsibilities• Safeguarding and promoting the interests of the present and future
generations• The principle of protecting human rights• Equitable access to medical, scientific and technological
developments• Greatest possible flow and rapid sharing of knowledge about these
developments, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries
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Difficulties in enforcing international principles
• The political will of signatories to enforce them is often lacking
• Lack of a global mandatory regime that can enforce these principles
• Lack of effective cooperation between countries
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Difficulties in formu-lating an ethics of cc
• Ethics often entail much more than merely applying pre-existing principles
• Climate change challenges the fundamentals of conventional ethics– Human agency, entailing rational choices based on a
understanding of the effects of our actions
• Climate change challenges us to rethink the fundamentals of ethics
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Rethinking the fundamentals of ethics
• Responsible action• Human dignity• National interests and identity• International cooperation and decision-making• Current views of minorities• Current views of resilience and vulnerability• How to handle differences of opinion between countries• Ownership of scientific knowledge and sharing of scientific data
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Current consensus about cc
• CC change, through global warming is caused, or significantly contributed to by human emissions of GHGs
• CC has already caused harm to humans and non-humans, and will continue to do so for a long time
• Adaptation to unavoidable cc effects is required, as well us measures for immediate disaster relief for victims of extreme weather events
• CC can be arrested, mitigated and even reversed by reducing GHG emissions to optimum levels – mitigation is required
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Differences of opinion within broad consensus
• The average temperature rise that can be allowed before a disastrous
tipping point is reached (2 degrees, 4, much less than 2?)
• Time left to act (2050, later, earlier?)
• The ceiling that should be set for GHG emissions? (revert to 1990 levels; 2000; double current levels; no ceiling at all)
• Neutralizing current levels of emissions by offsets, or replacing old by new technologies (zero emissions; negative emissions; all of this does not
address underlying causes of cc, which is the consumer culture)
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Concrete actions that member states can take
• The section on concrete actions that member states of UNESCO can take to adopt and promote an ethics of climate change, is left open not to pre-empt the inputs of COMEST members
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Any comments are welcome
• Gaps and omissions• Further areas/themes to investigate• Qualifications to make• Refinements to introduce• Sources to consult• Dialogues to enter into • Further steps in the process of arriving at an ethics of climate
change for UNESCO member states
