The Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic, and sustainable planet. Its vision is of an equitable, democratic and peaceful world in which all life may flourish. Among its values are: democracy, justice and care. These values explicitly apply to water governance and water resources management. With the Blue Community network, TNI shares a vision of alternative economies/societies that maximise collective autonomy and put the flourishing of communities & regeneration of ecosystems at the centre. Based on these values, TNI is a strategic ally for the Blue Community since many years.
TNI has played a crucial role in building the social movement “Right2Water”, the UN acknowledgment of the human right to water, and the campaign (2012-2013) that fought for implementation of the human right to water in European law and won. It also supported and popularised remunicipalisation as a viable strategy to reclaim and democratise water and sanitation across the globe. TNI supports movements around the globe that fight for the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation; e.g. in Nigeria (CAPPA), Indonesia (KRUHA), in Europe (EWM) and in Latin America (Red VIDA).
TNI states: «We will build on our many years of work with rural and urban communities around the world to collectively craft visions of ecologically and socially just futures, and pathways towards them in which safe and healthy tap water for all is promoted.» TNI has also banned bottled water from its office and events, providing tap water and also increasingly local food instead.
Fiona Dove, TNI Executive Director, states:
«Water is a life source that has spurred hundreds of millions of people into action. As the private sector has driven up prices and extraction, communities from Cochabamba to Lagos to Jakarta have been defending their right to water by reclaiming this public good. In the face of runaway climate change and entrenched corporate power, rural to urban working people are uniting to share water with their neighbors around which local democracies have revived. Our public water future is now.»
The Blue Community is proud and honoured to welcome its long-time ally, the Transnational Institute in the global network. Maude Barlow, co-founder of the Blue Community, says:
«The Transnational Institute has been an important ally and its activists dear friends since the beginning of our international struggle. They have met the criteria to be a Blue Community all the time. I’m very happy that they are now officially becoming a Blue Community – and we can work even closer together to turn the world just, democratic and blue.»
