The World Social forum is gathering citizens from around the world acting at a local level!

Porto Alegre, capital city of the Southern Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul, hosted the World Social Forum from the 26th to the 31st of January last. The World Social Forum is a gathering of non-governmental organizations, academics, campaigners and social movements among others, that underline the message of "another world is possible", calling for a more, just and sustainable world.
The city of Porto Alegre hosted the World Social Forum for the 4th time, which differs from previous World Social Forums which took place in Porto Alegre ( 2001 to and 2003) and Mombay ( India) in 2004).

This year activities were concentrated on the banks of the (polluted) lake Guaíba, in a large part of the green belt of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. Stands and halls were constructed using techniques of sustainable construction. It was agreed with the organisations that participated in the Forum, that the area would be used in agreement with the objectives of the organisations, for example, a lot of stands sold agro-ecological products and promoted recycling of waste and composting. There was a youth space and camp, with activities and young people from all around the world.

This year was a big year from the perspective of issues regarding sustainability, which had previously no place as such on the agenda. There were more workshops and discussions looking after issues like waste, recycling, sustainable mobility, privatisation of water (among other public service utilities) and access to natural resources among others. One of the themes highlighted in Porto Alegre was the International ecological debt from the North to the South. The worldwide campaign "Global call to action against Poverty" to fight against poverty in the world was launched at the Stadium Gigantinho on the 27 th of January by the Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio "Lula" da Silva, This campaign in currently taking place at local level in Ireland which is called "Make Poverty History".

Attention was also given to the Tsunami disaster that had inflicted South East Asia and there was a delegation from the Tsunami affected countries, calling for more sustainable tourism practices.
Speaking from the World Social Forum, Alberto Quarto, executive director of the US based Mangrove Action Project said "The severity of the tsunami disaster could have been averted if mangrove forest, coral reefs, sea grass beds and peat land had been conserved in a healthy state". According to Mr Quarto, the same vulnerable coastlines then are battered by the incoming forces of storm winds and tsunami waves, endangering the lives and property of countless coastal poor who live there.

There was a coalition formed at the World social forum 2005 in Porto Alegre to condemn Shrimp Farming and Tourism Industries for contributing to high death tolls and property damage from January's tsunami in Asia and Africa
The Coalition for Tsunami Victims presented at the World Social forum stated that future policies promoting shrimp farming, uncontrolled tourism development and other unsustainable industrial development must be condemned and halted, and necessary restoration should immediately ensue. The restoration should necessarily and integrally involve local communities in the process.
The Coalition demanded debt cancellation for those affected nations and urgently calls for removal of shrimp farms and tourist industry infrastructure as well as re-establishment of a mangrove buffer zone or "Greenbelt" along affected or threatened coastal zones to advert future such disasters.

The World Social Forum is growing, not only in popularity, number of nations or participants, ( more than 200.000 in last edition) which were from 119 different countries and regions, but also in variety of environmental impacts addressed as well as measures needed to mitigate them. Among the problems discussed are exhaust fumes from aeroplanes that transport thousands of people to Porto Alegre, contributing to the Greenhouse effect for example, and the large amount of waste produced during the Forum that overloaded the city's waste structure.

There were a total of 11 thematic spaces one of them focused on assuring and defending earth and people's common goods – as alternative to commodification and transnational control, others looking at human rights, peace, defending diversity and indigenous knowledge.

The World Social Forum next year is going to be decentralised in each continent, in the case of Europe it will take place in Greece. The 2007 World Social Forum edition will take place in Africa. Kenya and Mali are both candidates for hosting it. I encourage the Irish social forum and local community groups active in Ireland to build a link with local groups around the world to make real the slogan "another world is possible".