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“Another World is Possible”: CHN returns from the World Social Forum

Global Program, The Biosphere Ethics Initiative

February 1st, 2009

kintzele_World Social ForumCHN colleague Katy Kintzele recently returned from the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil, the Amazonian capital city of Pará. The Forum was created to offer an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, held during the same dates. In the current state of the western economic model, it was considered a timely and necessary event. Over 120,000 individuals from 150 countries attended the Forum, including President Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. On the opening day, the Forum’s founder Francisco Whitaker said participants would discuss ideas to create “a new civilization, based on other values.”

To advance the work of the Biosphere Ethics Project, Katy was joined by Karla Monteiro Matos, Director of Citizenship and Social Environmental Responsibility of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Patrick Blandin, Professor at the Paris Museum national d’Histoire naturelle. Katy presented the work of the project at the Local Agenda 21 Day events, which attracted large numbers due to the participation of Carlos Minc, Environment Minister of Brazil. Katy then chaired the CHN workshop, “Keeping Nature Alive: the Biosphere Ethics Project and Brazil’s Local Agendas 21,” which featured Karla and two Local Agenda 21 experiences. Gilberto Puig Maldonado, Gerente de Relacionamento Comunicação Institucional of Petrobras, presented the relationships between Petrobras and the 15 Local Agenda 21s that were created as a result of a refinery proposal near Rio de Janeiro. He spoke of the need to move away from “clientelism” and that corporations should extend their corporate social responsibility beyond legal requirements and risk assessment. Sirlene de Almeida, Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente for the city of Contagem, spoke of the Local Agenda 21 in Contagem, their process and their motivations, including the power “to dream of a better life.”

Katy’s personal observations of the Forum and the main themes resulting from the workshops will be in the upcoming edition of CHN’s Minding Nature. The formal report, to be published by the IUCN Environmental Law Center in Bonn, is currently being drafted. The work will then be taken to the CHN North American Global Responsibilities Annual Symposium, September 17-19, 2009 at Windblown Hill, Libertyville, Illinois. This meeting will consist of a critical ethical review of the project’s work-to-date, and in the nature of this “living project,” a dialogue on the ethics of protected and non-protected areas.

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