Journal international de bioéthique et d'éthique des sciences

The Declaration of ethical principles in relation to climate change (UNESCO, 2017)

Christian BYK — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Intended to complement the multilateral efforts of States, which have led in particular to the commitments negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this Declaration, which is based on the scientific assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, establishes a short list of global ethical principles whose purpose is to inspire decision-making and policy development at all levels and to ensure the inclusion of the interests of future generations. It thus brings an original but essential dimension to the actions of individuals and all stakeholders in addressing this new challenge for humanity. In this regard, it reflects, in a remarkable consensus, the balance between the diversity of policies of governments and other actors in the essential transition of climate policies and behaviours.

Death and legal personality from a cross-disciplinary perspective

Hamadi Gatta Wagué Hamadi Gatta Wagué — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Death has always been an insoluble legal dilemma. It has never been given a legal definition. Nonetheless, such competence is left to the medical science which is better furnished to establish death. The law only covers the property and non-property effects of death. The immediate consequence of death is the termination of legal personality if it is certified by a medico-legal decision. Sometimes death is surrounded by uncertainty related to the absence or disappearance of somebody. In those cases, death cannot terminate legal personality. However, precautionary measures are taken pending the pronunciation of the death to end legal personality. The classic conception of death putting an end to legal personality is often called into question if we enquiry the will of the deceased and his moral rights which are not in line with the automatic termination of legal personality. This question is becoming more and more remarkable with the appearance of digital identity, which overthrow the issue of death that is difficult to implement in the digital scale. Physical death is difficult to duplicate in the digital world. This study aims to show that death cannot always systematically put an end to legal personality. Some duties continue to produce their effects for better or for worse.

This question is becoming more and more remarkable with the appearance of digital identity, which overthrow the issue of death that is difficult to implement in the digital scale. Physical death is difficult to duplicate in the digital world. This study aims to show that death cannot always systematically put an end to legal personality. Some duties continue to produce their effects for better or for worse.

Notice No. 2025-47 (10 June 2025): Manipulating viruses, manipulating the climate? How can we judge what is responsible in research?

(COMETS) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this opinion, COMETS questions the responsibility of scientists when conducting research that presents a high potential for collective risks to populations and/or the environment. This recurring question of research ethics is particularly acute today, due to several factors: the growing power and accessibility of technologies capable of causing large-scale, serious, and even irreversible damage; the context of environmental and health crises, which may lead some to place sometimes excessive hopes in scientific research and encourage risk-taking without a shared framework; the context in which research itself is evolving, marked by increasing competition between teams and between states, and by the promotion of high-risk, high-gain research.

Prólogo

Christian BYK — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article does not contain any abstract.

UNESCO's Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change: The Issue of Climate and Health Inequalities

Christian BYK — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It is surprising that this Declaration, which “recommends that States consider these ethical principles in all decisions and actions relating to climate change”, makes no mention of the issue of health, despite the fact that, as the WHO points out, “climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health: clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure housing”, which leads the organisation to consider that “climate change is the greatest health threat facing humanity”. However, in relation to these observations by the WHO, the Declaration clearly puts forward two axes that concretise the link between climate change and inequalities in health. These are, firstly, the application of the principles set out in the Declaration to the determinants of health mentioned by the WHO and, secondly, the particular attention that the Declaration pays to vulnerable individuals and groups. It is from the combination of these two approaches that the “policy” that UNESCO seems to be suggesting emerges, albeit indirectly and partially. It is less that of a specific approach to access to health as such than the desire to emphasise both the determinants of health in a situation of climate change and the vulnerability of target populations to the increased health risks caused by climate change.

However, in relation to these observations by the WHO, the Declaration clearly puts forward two axes that concretise the link between climate change and inequalities in health. These are, firstly, the application of the principles set out in the Declaration to the determinants of health mentioned by the WHO and, secondly, the particular attention that the Declaration pays to vulnerable individuals and groups. It is from the combination of these two approaches that the "policy" that UNESCO seems to be suggesting emerges, albeit indirectly and partially. It is less that of a specific approach to access to health as such than the desire to emphasise both the determinants of health in a situation of climate change and the vulnerability of target populations to the increased health risks caused by climate change.

The principles of integral ecology

Fabien REVOL — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The concept of integral ecology is presented as a new paradigm proposed by Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato si’ (2015). It offers a critical re-reading of the modern paradigm, marked by a “despotic” anthropocentrism (LS 68, 118), to promote integral ecology as a horizon of conversion. Inspired by Jacques Maritain (Humanisme intégral, 1936) and Paul VI (Populorum Progressio, 1967), this concept seeks to reconcile human and environmental ecology by integrating social justice and biodiversity preservation. Integral ecology, asserting that “everything is connected” (LS 138), is grounded in an ontological key: the interdependence of beings, reflecting the Trinity in creation (Bonaventure). It articulates four fundamental relationships

(God, others, oneself, creation), symbolized by a tetrahedron, and is guided by principles such as “reality is more important than ideas” (EG 231–233) or “the whole is greater than the part” (LS 141).

Pope Francis, echoing the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (LS 49), links ecological crisis and poverty, criticizing the “throwaway culture” (LS 22). Integral ecology, with its universalist scope, addresses all people—believers and non-believers alike—by fostering dialogue among sciences, religions, and politics. Rooted in the Franciscan tradition (St. Francis of Assisi as a model of harmony) and the theology of the people (Scannone), it promotes “social and universal fraternity” (FT 2020). Finally, it calls for a conversion of our representations of nature, in response to Lynn White Jr.’s critique of Christian anthropocentrism, and for an ecology lived as “good news for creation.”

Juste un mot

Christian BYK — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article does not contain an abstract.