Geoeducation and Geoethics: Implications in natural hazards communication and preservation of architectonic heritage.

In the framework of the ERASMUS Intensive Programme (IP) on "Global Heritage and Sustainability: Geological, Cultural and Historical", a round table was organised on "Geoeducation and Geoethics in Earth and Planetary Sciences" taking advantage of the role of the IP coordinator also being responsible for the "Heritage Stone Task Group" (HSTG) at IUGS and in addition the presence of the responsible for the "IUGS Commission on Geoscience Education, Training and Technology Transfer" (IUGS-COGE) and President of the International Association of Geoethics (IAGETH). Another responsible for the round table was an expert on natural risks. This topic formed an important part of the program of this IP, that in 2013 was celebrating its third and final edition. This round table was one of the first exchanges of views among different IUGS commissions and task groups. It offered a very good opportunity to analyse how aware is the scientific community about the importance of education and ethics in communicating natural hazards risks and their relationship preserving architectonic heritage, which was the main subject of the Intensive Programme. Eighteen participants contributed to the event with the following backgrounds: Geology, Engineering Geology, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Civil Protection and English Philology. All participants were either undergraduate students or graduate students, at a Masters and Doctoral level from the following countries: Spain, Portugal, Italy and Hungary. The purpose of this study is to establish an initial link between geoethics and geoeducation when teaching university students at different levels of subject such as natural hazards risks communication and the preservation of architectonic heritage. The respective IUGS Commissions and Task Groups can lead the debate. This work was sponsored by the ERASMUS Intensive Programme 2012-1-ES1-ERA10-54375 and it was done within the framework of the IUGS Heritage Stone Task Group and COGE commission activities.