The GPDPD promotes alternative development in drug crop cultivating areas to enable smallholder farmers to improve their living conditions.
At the same time, at the United Nations (UN) level the project promotes a drug policy in which development, human rights and public health take priority.
DID YOU KNOW THAT …
… across the globe, the illicit cultivation of opium poppy and coca – the raw materials for cocaine and heroin – has never been as widespread as it is today? And that, worldwide, there have never been so many people who have died from an overdose of heroin or another opiate? Or that an estimated 17 million Europeans have used cocaine at least once in their lifetime?
THE CHALLENGE
The cultivation, trafficking in and use of illicit drugs are global phenomena. The illicit cultivation of coca, opium poppies and cannabis and their processing into cocaine, crack, heroine and hashish are mostly found in countries of the Global South.
Smallholder families in drug crop cultivating areas have no stable income. Their livelihoods are at risk due to fragility and deficient state order. Armed conflict, organised crime, corruption and health risks make the situation for these people even worse. Human rights are often jeopardised in areas of drug crop cultivation, while the cultivation and processing of coca, opium poppy and other drug crops often cause serious environmental damage. In short, illegal drug cultivation
affects development.
Countries are increasingly seeking alternatives to the ‘war on drugs’. Yet they often lack concrete, effective strategies and mechanisms to reform their drug policies.
WHO WE ARE
Working on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GPDPD is a global project that promotes sustainable approaches to global drug policy together with interested governments and international partner organisations.
The GPDPD is committed to furthering alternative development
through technical advice and training measures to governments. The goal is to promote strategies through which smallholders are given support to step away from illegal drug crop cultivation, to cultivate licit crops such as coffee and cocoa and in order to tap additional sources of income to secure their livelihoods. This enables the affected areas to develop.
The GPDPD has also helped to devise the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy. Together with the University of Essex, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the governments of Switzerland and Colombia, the GPDPD presented the document at the United Nations in 2019. It supports governments to
review their national drug strategies in light of their commitments to uphold human rights.
As such, the project combines approaches to rural development, public health and human rights with a more sustainable global drug policy. The partners implementing this project include the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal
Patronage (MFLF) in Thailand and the non-governmental organisations Transnational Institute (TNI) and International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC).
HOW WE WORK
The GPDPD works in four fields of action:
Field of action 1: We promote international dialogue on drug policy, particularly within the framework of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to embed development, health and human-rights-based principles in the UN’s drug policy. The activities are implemented together with interested governments, international organisations and
civil society. Partners include the governments of Colombia, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Switzerland and Thailand, as well as the UNODC, the UNDP and the two non-governmental organisations TNI and IDPC.
Field of activity 2: We advise governments in Asia, South-East Europe and Latin America on reviewing their domestic drug policies. These measures are delivered together with the project’s implementing partners and government authorities in the respective countries.
Field of activity 3: We promote innovations and an evidence-based drug policy. To this end, we cooperate with universities, institutions and think tanks.
Field of activity 4: We give our approaches in drug policy an international profile and relevance by using social media for political communication and by publishing information on our own website.
CASE STUDY: COLOMBIA
The major share of the global supply of cocaine stems from Colombia. The consequence? Major environmental issues and challenges in human safety. Illegal drug cultivation is a strong driver of deforestation and reduces soil and water quality as well as biodiversity.
Together with the UNODC and other partners, the GPDPD carries out pilot projects in coca cultivation regions in the country‘s Amazon basin in order to reduce deforestation and to identify and secure licit sources of income. Integrating drug policy and environmental protection is a groundbreaking strategy. The measures are supported by trainings in
the Doi Tung Development Project in Thailand where alternative development has been successfully practised for decades and opium cultivation has been completely driven back.
These experiences have been taken into account in Colombia’s new drug policy and its deforestation control strategy. The documents now reflect better that drugs and environment issues are often interrelated, and that an integrated approach is needed to address them.