Global Cooperation

The Global Cooperation Project supports a foundation of human rights, social development and environmental stewardship upon which economic development can prosper. Read more

Blue Mountain Global Governance Network

The Blue Mountain Global Governance Network is coordinating global action to transform the institutional and legal structures of the multilateral system. IATP is focusing on the links between security and development, particularly between the international financial institutions, the WTO and the UN systems. Our goal is to achieve a more democratic global policymaking system.

Genetic Engineering

In coalition with farm, consumer and environmental groups, IATP works in the U.S. and globally to ensure genetically engineered foods and other products are proven safe before they enter the marketplace. We have documented the economic, environmental and public health risks associated with some of these untested genetically engineered products and their impacts on producers and consumers. We promote the right of nations to decline genetically engineered food aid and support the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the global treaty governing trade in genetically engineered products according to the "precautionary principle."

Human Rights

Food, health care and water are fundamental human rights.

• From grassroots projects in our backyard here in the Mississippi River Basin to global collaborations such as the "Freshwater Caucus" at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, IATP's Right to Water Project promotes a socially just and environmentally sustainable approach to managing our water commons and the right to clean water for all. To learn more, visit waterobservatory.org.

• The patenting of life forms, such as plants and animals and their genes, is a particularly controversial practice being played out in the global arena. IATP's Biodiversity and Intellectual Property Project advocates for significant reforms in the U.S. patent system and in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), which violate basic human rights—jeopardizing access to AIDS drugs and other medicines as well as farmers' rights to save and sow harvested seeds. Our efforts to reform agriculture policy are geared to ensure farmers' rights and food sovereignty as fundamental building blocks to healthy and safe food for all.

Trade Information Project

From our office in Geneva, Switzerland, the center of global negotiations for the UN and the World Trade Organization, IATP's Trade Information Project (TIP) staff is in daily contact with dozens of nongovernmental organizations and the world's governments. We organize seminars, training sessions and other educational programs in addition to analyzing and disseminating information fresh from the negotiating rooms. In coordination with civil society groups from across the planet, TIP helps organize responses as well as new proposals for the officials' consideration.

Trade and Agriculture

IATP's Trade and Agriculture Project initiates and supports efforts in the U.S. and around the globe to forge stronger and fairer multilateral trade rules. These should be based on respect for the rights of sovereign states and indigenous peoples to manage their economies according to their own development strategies. With expertise on the impacts of current policies on farmers, consumers, rural communities and the environment, IATP is working to prohibit dumping and ensure fair commodity prices at the national and international levels.