A part, not apart from nature: The IUBS ethics commission - An overview of a journey from 2000-2012.

This paper explores the development of the way in which humans interact and have interacted with their natural environment. In particular, it places this within the context of the International Union of Biological Science's Ethics Commission, a body established in 2007 to develop ethical norms for bioethics and environmental ethics. The Ethics Commission grew out of what was the IUBS Bioethics Committee - the name change being dictated by confusion about the meaning of the term bioethics - which had recently been captured by the medical profession and was increasingly applied to medical practice alone. The new IUBS Ethics Commission (ICE) had a public presence as the International Centre for Environmental and Bioethics (ICEB), the web page of which was a vehicle to facilitate the provision and dissemination of ideas, news, concerns and case studies about the ethical management of the biosphere. In July 2012, the commission ceased to exist as a stand-alone entity. The reasons for this closure were varied; ranging from a lack of interest, to a belief that the commission was no longer required, to an inability or a lack of willingness to be personally involved in environmental ethics. The ICE is nonetheless still an important part of IUBS - currently as a subcommittee within the Biological Education Commission. The paper finishes with a review of the achievements of the commission over the last few years, and assesses where the critical ethical issues in biological sciences are likely to arise in the next decade: continued environmental degradation, increased intellectual theft and scientific obfuscation.