New answers to an old problem: Social investment and coca crops in Colombia

Dávalos, Eleonora

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.02.002

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Policies to counteract coca illicit crops cultivation and processing need to minimize environmental impacts and create legal alternatives and employment opportunities for coca‐growing communities. In Colombia, the social and economic effects caused by the implementation of those policies have been thoroughly investigated (Davalos, ; Dion & Russeler, ; Ibañez, ; Ibanez & Carlsson, ; Ibanez & Martinsson, ; Rincón‐Ruiz & Kallis, ; Sherret, ). These studies find out that developing local infrastructure together with poverty reduction efforts is the best way to control and reduce the cultivation of illicit crops, while revitalizing the local economy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment and socioeconomic evaluation of the illicit crop substitution policy in Colombia

Barrera‐Ramírez

Prado²,

Solheim

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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The peace treaty of Colombia contemplates a crop substitution policy seeking to replace coca crops with legal alternatives. Although crop substitution diverts funding of illegal activities and provides an income to farmers, it is important to understand how the change to a variety of legal crops (coffee, sugarcane, and cacao) affects the income of farmers, and whether there is an environmental advantage of a crop over another. This study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) coupled with socioeconomic indicators to two regions, Putumayo and Catatumbo, over different policy scenarios. LCA results show that a policy success does not ensure a lower environmental impact across the board. Legal crops consume less fuel than coca crops, which reduce fuel‐related impacts, but the use of fertilizer in coffee and pesticide use in sugarcane increase toxicity‐related impacts. The results, however, are affected by a lack of characterization factors of agrochemicals, but once these are replaced by proxies, coca crops appear to have greater toxicity impacts. In terms of individual crops, cacao crops have a lower environmental impact than coffee and sugarcane, but it also takes the longest to harvest, which may pose a financial risk to farmers. The socioeconomic analysis reveals that for Catatumbo farmers, a policy success reduces the income, whereas for Putumayo farmers, a policy success increases income and job generation. In general, it was observed that the dynamics of the illegal supply chain vary for each region, influencing the environmental and socioeconomic outcome of the substitution policy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment and socioeconomic evaluation of the illicit crop substitution policy in Colombia

Barrera‐Ramírez

Prado²,

Solheim

2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…Contrary to pervasive policy assumptions, the effectiveness of the so-called war against coca production does not depend exclusively on monitored state enforcement or alternative development projects (Mansfield et al 2016). In fact, some argue that -at least for the Colombian case -the effect of aerial spraying is small compared to the effect of social investment (Davalos 2016). According to Davalos (2016) an additional USD 5.55 per capita spending in social programmes (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, some argue that -at least for the Colombian case -the effect of aerial spraying is small compared to the effect of social investment (Davalos 2016). According to Davalos (2016) an additional USD 5.55 per capita spending in social programmes (i.e. human capital and infrastructure) significantly prevents the appearance of a new hectare of coca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of Organised Community Resistance in the Context of Illicit Economies and Drug War Policies: Insights from Colombia

Vélez

Lobo

2019

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

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The voice and role of communities, particularly their capacity to organise and resist, has been understudied in the specialised literature on illicit crops and largely ignored in policy debates. Based on ongoing research in Colombia, this policy paper explores the capacity of communities to organise and resist-as a manifestation of cultural and social capital-in the context of illicit economies. The paper argues that in the context of weak states, the effectiveness of drug policies could be enhanced by drawing upon and investing in communities' organisational capacity and active local leadership to increase the non-monetary benefits of eradication and substitution. Acknowledging how resistance reflects the experiences of communities and responds to their different needs, the paper offers relevant insights for policy that can inform drug policy formulation in Colombia and similar contexts.

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“…Coca cultivation, grown by migrant farmers for the global cocaine market, has featured prominently as a driver of land use change in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia (Álvarez 2002;Bradley and Millington 2008b;Young 1996). Since coca growers are, on average, poorer than other farmers in subnational analyses (Davalos 2016;Dávalos & Dávalos 2020), poverty and immiseration seem to be logical explanations for coca deforestation. Yet, even studies identifying coca cultivation as an important driver of landscape change fail to fully support the immiseration model because legal land uses such as pastures dominate (e.g., a ratio of >80:1 pasture: coca or 495,917 ha of pasture to 6,013 ha for 2010 in San Lucas [Chadid et al 2015]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests, Coca, and Conflict: Grass Frontier Dynamics and Deforestation in the Amazon-Andes

Dávalos

Holmes³

et al. 2021

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

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Population growth with weak economic development can promote tropical deforestation, but government infrastructure investment can also open new frontiers and thus increase deforestation. In the Andean region of South America, population growth has been a leading explanation for both deforestation and coca cultivation, but coca generates armed conflict and attracts counter-drug measures, obscuring the differences between population-driven and frontier-opening models of deforestation. Using a 15-year panel from Colombia, we model deforestation, coca cultivation, and conflict victims as interrelated responses with a suite of covariates encompassing land cover, land cover changes, population, population changes, counter-drug measures, and government infrastructure spending. Infrastructure spending suppresses coca, coca and eradication by aerial fumigation both increase conflict, and conflict promotes deforestation and is associated with depopulation. But the strongest predictor of deforestation is pasture growth, which covaries with coca. While these models show that infrastructure spending can help reduce coca, and coca's influence on deforestation is indirect and mediated by conflict, the models also reveal the most important challenge to forest conservation is neither coca nor conflict, but an insatiable appetite for land that expresses itself through pasture growth.

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New answers to an old problem: Social investment and coca crops in Colombia

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Life cycle assessment and socioeconomic evaluation of the illicit crop substitution policy in Colombia

Life cycle assessment and socioeconomic evaluation of the illicit crop substitution policy in Colombia

Challenges of Organised Community Resistance in the Context of Illicit Economies and Drug War Policies: Insights from Colombia

Forests, Coca, and Conflict: Grass Frontier Dynamics and Deforestation in the Amazon-Andes

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