Taking development seriously: Alternative development in the UNGASS 2016 process

In recent years, Member States have increasingly recognized the importance of a development-oriented approach to address the world drug problem, including alternative development, to reduce the cultivation of illicit crops, notably opium poppy and coca bush, used for the production of narcotic drugs. There is also growing consensus on how to define and understand alternative development, namely as a long-term holistic approach that is integrated into national development strategies. Alternative development primarily addresses poverty, which in most cases is the root cause of illicit crop cultivation. The adoption of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Alternative Development by the General Assembly in December 2013 contributed to the promotion of alternative development. The Guiding Principles and global acknowledgement of illicit drug cultivation as a development issue were further recognized at the second International Workshop and Conference on Alternative Development hosted by the Royal Thai Government, in collaboration with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in November 2015.

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