Resolution 2008/26. Promoting sustainability in alternative development as an important part of drug control strategy in States where illicit crops are grown to produce drugs

1. Recalls the Action Plan on International Cooperation on the Eradication of Illicit Drug Crops and on Alternative Development, which continues to have practical relevance and in which it is stated that alternative development is an important component of a balanced and comprehensive illicit crop eradication strategy and is intended to promote lawful and sustainable socio-economic options for those communities and population groups that have resorted to illicit cultivation as their only viable means of obtaining a livelihood, contributing in an integrated way to the eradication of poverty;

Annex. Best practices and lessons learned in sustainable alternative livelihood development of Thailand

1. First and foremost, alternative development, which in the context of the Thai experience is referred to as “sustainable alternative livelihood development”, must be people-centred. (…)

2. The main objective of sustainable alternative livelihood development is to transform poor and vulnerable communities, especially in rural areas, from social and economic dependency or sub-sufficiency to full socio-economic sufficiency, in a participatory manner and at a pace appropriate to each stage, to allow the changes to be accepted and introduced by the communities. (…)

4. When applying sustainable alternative livelihood development in the context of drug control, the eradication of illicit crops should not be the only immediate goal. The progressive introduction of viable alternative livelihoods in the broader context of rural development is needed to tackle the root cause of illicit crop cultivation — poverty — without severely curtailing the only available means of survival of the people involved.