Bangkok--Nov 15--UNODC
Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) together with Mr. Phongthep Thepkanjana, Thailand’s Minister of Justice, will open a six-day meeting on alternative development in Doi Tung Development Project in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Alternative development is the expression usually meant to represent the generation of licit incomes in areas characterized by illegal economic activities.
The meeting showcases a dramatic decline in drug cultivation throughout the Golden Triangle — clear evidence that alternative development is working, needs to be reinforced and can succeed worldwide. Above all, it offers participating experts an opportunity to compare best practices and explore whether the legal economy can successfully challenge, and replace, unlawful incomes.
Thailand, the site of the meeting, has a high success rate in alternative development. It was one of the first countries in the world to succeed in the sustainable elimination of opium cultivation. Thailand’s victory over opium cultivation was the result of thirty years of development projects in the nation’s highlands, where UNODC and the international community worked hand-in-hand with the Thai Government to offer poor ethnic minority, villagers and farmers economic alternatives to drug crops.
“The heart of the Golden Triangle sends an important message out to the rest of the world. Alternative development is the only way ahead to combat illicit activities from inside, working on farmers’ well-being rather than on their fears, in a sustainable way” said Costa.
“Thailand has been opium free since 1993. In less than a decade, Laos and Myanmar have reduced opium cultivation by over 78 percent. Unless alternative development initiatives are launched, these farmers risk hunger and then humanitarian disaster. Now is the moment for nations and counter-drug agencies around the world to join together in the kinds of Global Partnerships we need to bring alternative development projects to regions and peoples still held hostage by narco-economies,” added Costa.
Worldwide, an estimated four million people depend on income derived from the cultivation of illicit drug crops, including coca and poppies. In most cases, these growers live below the poverty level and, on average, 50 per cent of their income is realized through drug-crop cultivation. Food shortages and the vagaries of other agricultural markets often force farmers to depend on drug crops. History however has demonstrated that, given alternative income options, farmers and their families are quick to abandon drug cultivation and embrace legitimate opportunities to make a living. End.