london

Unesco's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) is due to prepare its contribution to the World Conference on Science at its first meeting, being held in Oslo this week at the invitation of the Norwegian government.

During the three-day meeting, COMEST will undertake what Unesco describes as “a first exchange of views on ethics and the information society”. Public round-table discussions are also planned, which will bring together representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, as well as players from the public and private sectors. The round-table themes will be ethics and energy, ethics and free water resources, and the ethics of the information society.

Such areas, says Unesco, reflect COMEST's mandate to serve “as an intellectual forum for the exchange of ideas and experience; to detect the early signs of risk situations; to fulfil an advisory role for decision-makers, and to promote dialogue between scientific communities, decision-makers and the public”.

COMEST was set up in May 1988 by Unesco, with 18 members appointed by the director-general, to advise the organization and to serve as an intellectual forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences and to promote dialogue between scientific communities, decision-makers and the public. COMEST chair and former president of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, is due to address the opening session of the meeting.

Report: http://helix.nature.com/wcs/a27.html