Yury Fedatov, UNODC Executive Director
When we talk about alternative development we are talking about small farmers under intense pressure to engage in illicit crop cultivation. Alt dev is part of balanced strategy and sustainable development. Discussions on alt dev happening at CND and will happen at UNGASS. Yury always insists on seeing alt development projects. Alt development is not fiction, it’s a reality. You need strong political will and sufficient financial resources. These two factors ensure successful development.

Daniel Brombacher, GIZ
Presented paper E/CN.7/2014/CRP.7
Germany has been active in alt dev for 30 years. Cooperated with small group of SEA and South American countries. Now discussing alt dev with other countries like Russia, Morocco. No longer limited. Illict drugs are grown because there is a lack of development. Small scale farmers lack infrastructure, access to market, land, food security. We should address the root factors. Access to land is a really important issue. In all the international resolutions, action plans etc the nexus between land issues and drug policy issues has not really been recognised. No land titles, no finance.

Tom Kramer, Transnational Institute
Need to involve the farmers in projects. Involvement of civil society organisations. Needs to take into account human rights issues. Usually growing because of poverty. Also other principles and freedoms in UN Dec of Human Rights. Access to land is a substantial problem for farmers. People growing opium generally have no land rights. Mono-cropping is driving people off the land. Non-food crops mean less food. Legal challenges. Tension between domestic legislations.

Rajesh Nandan Srivastava, Ministry of Finance, India
Opium has been grown in India for centuries. Poppy crops being grown in central india legally under tight controls. There are certain pockets of illicit cultivation. Generally inaccessible. 2011 was a significant year for destroying poppy crops. Significant drop in people going back to growing poppies. The fields of illicit growers and the methods they use are incredibly similar to licit producers.
The slash and burn is resource intensive and takes time. In 2012 started making changes to ensure proper alternative development. It’s not one size fits all. We will identify places where poppies traditionally cultivated, especially where their livelihood depends on the cultivation. In the areas where there was highly developed poppy cultivation which mimicked the licitly production, it doesn’t qualify for alternative development.

Ilnur Batyrshin, Federal Drug Control Service of Russia
Drugs haven’t traditionally been a problem in Russia until the 1990s. From almost zero level to the thousands. Strong treatment and law enforcement components. Most widespread drug in Russia was heroin, it comes from Heroin, This became top of their priorities. Have been studying alternative development issues. Want to eliminated drug production Afghanistan. There is a ministerial meeting next week in Moscow about drug policy and alternative development.