Ethics Toolkit
The ISE Code of Ethics, containing guidelines to facilitate ethical and equitable relationships between researchers and local communities, was completed at a special pre-Congress Ethics Workshop and ratified by the ISE Membership at ICE 2006 after ten years of development. Workshop participants and ISE members emphasized the need for complementary materials such as a “toolkit” to facilitate effective implementation of the Code’s principles and practices.
The toolkit is envisioned as an internet-based multifaceted, multicultural, and multilingual information clearing-house containing supporting material for the Code of Ethics. Components of the toolkit may include: implementation case studies; a handbook/training manual, and supporting materials and mechanisms to assist with resolving conflicts and identifying situations of non-compliance that arise in relation to conducting collaborative research and using the Code of Ethics. Community-based workshops are envisioned as part of the development process.
A draft strategy was developed at the pre-Congress Ethics Workshop in Thailand and further work will commence in 2008 with financial support from The Christensen Fund.
Promoting Ethical Partnerships
Agustinus Angkol, an indigenous farmer-researcher of the Tado tribe of Flores, Indonesia, displays one the medicinal plant herbarium specimens he prepared as part of the Tado Cultural Ecology Conservation Program, 2005. Photo courtesy of Agustinus Angkol and Jeanine Pfeiffer, ECO-SEA. "Since its inception in 1995, ECO-SEA has facilitated the conservation of biological and cultural diversity through partnerships with local, national, and international colleagues. [Their] collaborative ventures stress the equitable sharing of responsibility and benefits. In practical terms, this translates into consortium-based project management teams where local community members have equal standing with national or international researchers." See www.ecosea.org for more details. ECO-SEA is an institutional partner of ISE, and exemplifies the type of working relationships that the Code of Ethics strives to promote.
