When it comes to managing the energy transition the need for municipal level innovation has never been clearer. In recent years, we have seen some successes, where innovative ideas have led to more equitable, just and democratic energy policies. However, the sharing of these ideas has been limited, and they have tended to remain local and specific. To achieve large scale, replicable success we need a coordinated and integrated approach for collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Enter: mPOWER
mPOWER is a 4-year programme that will enable in-depth, wide-scale and systematic city to city learning among at least 100 local public authorities, in order to replicate innovative best practices in municipal energy, and developing ambitious energy transition plans.
mPOWER is run by a consortium composed of the University of Glasgow (UK), Platform (UK), Transnational Institute (Netherlands), Energy Cities (EU-wide), IPE (Croatia), University of the Basque Country (ES), and Carbon Co-op (UK).
The mPOWER project and consortium are funded by the Horizon 2020 EU Research and Innovation programme. The project started in May 2018 and will last four years.
Today, on the United Nations’ International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (26th June), governments around the world are commemorating their decades-long support of the global war on drugs.
Between 26 and 28 May 2018, representatives of opium farming communities in several states in Myanmar came together in Lashio, Shan State, to share experiences, concerns, and initiatives on the issue of illicit cultivation, especially in relation with supply-side policies which have affected their lives and livelihoods. A final statement was concluded at the end of the forum.
The international dimensions of Bill C-45 are of utmost importance not only for Canada itself but for many countries around the world that are moving in the direction of legally regulating the cannabis market
The rise in authoritarianism is often credited to the successful machinations of charismatic, skillful charlatans, ignoring the longer historical trends towards authoritarianism which has become deeply embedded in contemporary politics, economics and society. TNI has brought together researchers and activists worldwide to examine the underlying causes of today's authoritarian wave with a view to examining how progressive forces' resistance can better challenge and articulate emancipatory alternatives.
The default response for dealing with rising numbers of refugees and migrants has been to militarise borders rather than address humanitarian needs or tackle the underlying causes of people forced to uproot from home. TNI's Border Wars work looks at the globalisation of border security, the way it criminalises refugees and those who support them, the policies that have put security above human rights, and the corporate interests that are driving the agenda and profiting from it.
In a letter to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global network of 177 NGOs, expresses strong support for the Peace Accord signed by the Colombian government and the FARC, while also expressing deep concern regarding intensified, and increasingly militarized, forced coca eradication efforts, especially in areas where communities have already signed crop substitution agreements.
Initially focusing on coca producing areas in the Andean Region, TNI's work on Drugs & Conflict has since expanded to cover the world’s main opium producing areas with a focus on Myanmar and Afghanistan. Over the past two decades, TNI staff has worked extensively with local organisations and researchers to advocate for more inclusive, effective and humane approaches to drug related issues in these conflict situations, while analysing the links between drug use, production, and conflict and what these mean for efforts to promote peaceful and just societies. TNI also focuses on promoting the rights of local communities involved in the cultivation of crops declared illicit, and their involvement in drug policy making, the peace process and the design and implementation of development programmes.
For years, TNI’s work in Colombia has largely focussed on how public policies and political processes have affected (rural) communities and their collective efforts to democratise access to land, water, and other natural resources. In doing so, TNI has collaborated with local organisations and researchers, while simultaneously building bridges between grassroots movements and policymakers at the national and international level.
After more than four years of peace talks in Havana, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have taken important steps towards a definitive agreement to end the decades-long armed conflict in the country. This page provides some background information as well as TNI’s most recent analyses and advocacy work in relation with various social and economic issues that are essential factors in creating territorial peace in Colombia.
The UN drug control system has been in place for more than half a century. Does it still serve its purpose or is reform of its legal and institutional architecture needed? There are many questions about outdated provisions, unintended consequences and tensions with today's UN norms in the fields of human rights, development, as well as peace and security. Find critical background and proposals for reform in this collection.
The TNI/CEDD (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho / Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law ) Drug Law Reform Project promotes more effective and humane drug policies through analysis of existing drug control policies and by promoting dialogue among key stakeholders and decision-makers. The project is focused on Latin America and hopes to stimulate reforms by pointing out good practices and lessons learned in areas such as proportionality of sentences, prison reform, and the status of the coca leaf in the international conventions.
Transformative Cities is an opportunity for progressive local governments, municipalist coalitions, social movements and civil society organizations to popularize and share their experiences of tackling and finding solutions to our planet’s systemic economic, social, political and ecological crisis.
The initiative draws on the emerging wave of transformative political practices taking place at municipal level worldwide, by launching a unique award process that will ensure that the lessons and inspiration of these cities becomes viral.
The Ecuadorian Citizens’ Commission for a Comprehensive Audit of Investment Protection Treaties and of the International Arbitration System on Investments (CAITISA) was set up by the Ecuadorian goverment to audit the country's investment treaties and make recommendations to the government.
The commission was comprised of government officials, academics, lawyers and civil society groups, including the foremost expert on investment law, Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah and the former Attorney General for Argentina, Osvaldo Guglielmino. Our own TNI researcher Cecilia Olivet was nominated president.
In May 2017, the Commission's report was published and its recommendations to terminate the country's Bilateral Investment Treaties accepted by the government.
Climate change mitigation/adaptation and land grabbing are not necessarily isolated or separate phenomena. In many parts of the world such initiatives are hitting the ground in the same spaces and at the same time, often alongside environmental conservation programs as well. When they overlap and intersect, the results can be socially and politically explosive. In the transitional settings of Cambodia and Myanmar, old conflicts are being enflamed and new conflicts are being ignited, while customary ways of life and production systems are being branded as destructive or inefficient (or both) and ordinary villagers are being squeezed out.
Using collaborative action research the MOSAIC project is working to strengthen understanding of these dynamics and build capacity for more effective state policies and grassroots action and interaction, for socially and environmentally just outcomes in the case study areas and beyond.
Civil society letter of concern on the occasion of the 2nd round of negotiations for an EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
Transnational Institute (TNI), Institute for Policy Studies
25 January 2017
Declaration
The Institute for Policy Studies and Transnational Institute welcome the Dutch trade minister’s call for a reset of trade negotiations to better link the trade and investment agenda to equitable and sustainable development objectives. At the same time, we urge all stakeholders involved in the EU-Mexico FTA negotiations to replace the current far-reaching liberalisation and deregulation agenda with an agreement that regulates investment in accordance with human rights, social standards, environmental protection, climate conservation and other sustainable development objectives as overriding principles. Read the letter, which includes our concerns and recommendations, below:
