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Alternative Development: Regional Initiatives |
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Andean Countries Cacao Export Support Opportunity (ACCESO) Andean Regional Strategy on Integral and Sustainable Alternative Development Regional Seminar on Marketing for Alternative Development Products During the 1970s and 1980s, the Andean Region witnessed a surge in illicit crop cultivation that was stimulated by an increase in drug trafficking activities. Bolivia, Peru, and later Colombia, acquired unwanted international attention in anti-narcotics fora due to the large amount of illicit crop cultivation existing in their territories. The countries, recognizing that the phenomenal growth of coca cultivation in the Andes was due, among other factors, to the economic and social depression in the rural areas and the domestic economic crises, decided to undertaken individual Alternative Development efforts to encourage the promotion of licit activities and the improvement of living conditions of the population living in areas prone to illicit crop cultivation. Isolated alternative development efforts, however, proved insufficient to achieve permanent reductions in drug production on a regional level. In particular, alternative development agencies and experts started to notice the appearance of the “balloon effect.” This phenomenon, well documented now among Andean countries, consists on the increase in the cultivation of illegal crops in a country as a result of eradication and alternative development efforts in a neighboring nation. As a response to this phenomenon, and recognizing the important role that Alternative Development plays in the fight against drugs in the Andes, CICAD supported the countries of the region in the creation of the Andean Group on Alternative Development as a way to promote horizontal cooperation among its members. During its first meeting in July of 2000, the creation of an Andean Committee for Alternative Development (CADA) was agreed upon. Since then, CADA held regular periodic meetings with the institutional and financial assistance of CICAD and subsequently, the countries decided to incorporate CADA to the Andean Integration System. In a meeting celebrated in 2004 in Lima, Peru, CADA agreed to develop an Andean Regional Strategy in Alternative Development. CICAD agreed to finance its creation by providing the funds to hire a General Coordinator.
CICAD also supports other regional initiatives aimed at promoting the marketing of products from Alternative Development projects.
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More
recently, CICAD reached out to the private sector in a regional iniciative to
promote the production of quality cacao. The