Ocean conservation requires new Hippocratic Oath

An international group of marine scientists have called for a Hippocratic Oath to protect the oceans, similar to that which doctors take before practising medicine. The scientists say this oath could help protect against human rights violation that may occur as a result of conservation efforts. It will also promote fair, socially responsible decision making when planning and implementing actions to protect oceans.

Dr Nathan Bennett, from the University of Washington and lead author of the recommendations published in Marine Policy, said: “The benefit of developing a code of conduct is that we are taking past mistakes and learning from them. We are trying to suggest a way forward and ultimately increase the success of conservation."

In this paper, the authors put forward a number of social justice, accountability and decision-making principles that could be used for a conservation code. These include topics such as indigenous rights, food and livelihood security, inclusivity and transparency. A number of human rights violations have occurred around the world as byproducts of conservation activities. In Tanzania, coastal indigenous people have been forcibly removed from their homelands and areas in South Africa have been designated for marine protection without consulting the local population.

An international group of academics and professionals from universities, government agencies and non-profit organisations convened at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Congress, last year. At the Congress, a marine code of conduct and framework was put together which has now been summarised in the newly published paper.

Professor Patrick Christie, from the University of Washington and co-lead author, said: “The practice of marine conservation always involves trade-offs. This analysis makes it clear that society's most vulnerable cannot be expected to carry the main burdens of conservation. Without taking into careful consideration the principles of this analysis, conservation will likely fail in the long term and have unintended negative impacts on society and environments.”