Conservation advocates pushing for the decriminalization of cocaine: Understanding their rationale
In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the setting of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, presents a unique opportunity for the unification of the drug liberalization and climate movements. This region, situated at one of the main cocaine routes out of Latin America for Europe, is grappling with the devastating consequences of drug trafficking on its environment.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported in 2023 that illegal mining on Indigenous land in Brazil has increased by almost 500% between 2010 and 2020, with up to 90% of the Yanomami and Munduruku population suffering from mercury poisoning. The Amazon contains an estimated 123 billion tons of carbon, yet deforestation, driven primarily by cattle ranching, releases sequestered carbon into the atmosphere.
Cocaine production, particularly in Ucayali, Peru, has risen steeply, with more than half of new coca crops from 2003 to 2022 grown on deforested land. The UNODC report in 2023 concluded that 'narco-deforestation'-the laundering of drug trafficking profits into land speculation, agriculture, cattle ranching and related infrastructure-poses a growing danger to the world's largest rainforest.
The environmental harms of cocaine prohibition are increasingly difficult to ignore. The civil society group, Open Society Foundations, said in a 2015 report that drug prohibition has much amplified the environmental devastation and degradation that accompanies drug cultivation and trafficking. The criminal infrastructure for the trafficking of cocaine out of the Amazon is becoming more sophisticated, bolstering routes to extract illegal timber, minerals, and other natural resources.
The war on drugs, especially in Acre, is criticized for making the violence rates go up and up, and for violating the rights of Indigenous populations who are at the center of the conflict between the state and drug cartels. At least 15 Indigenous leaders have been murdered near Peruvian airstrips over the past five years. Ten of the airstrips in Peruvian Amazon are located on forest concessions designated to protect the forest or for sustainable use. There are at least 76 illegal airstrips throughout the Peruvian Amazon.
The constant jettisoning of toxic chemicals from thousands of clandestine cocaine labs across the Amazon has created mini ecological disaster zones. Colombia and Bolivia are pressing the World Health Organization to review the evidence underpinning the global coca ban, which could potentially result in the descheduling of coca.
James, senior policy and campaigns officer at Health Poverty Action, criticizes leading environmental organizations for appearing reluctant to speak out about the compounding negative effects of cocaine prohibition. The organization in Germany that has engaged in addressing the environmental impacts of drug prohibition and the rights of Indigenous peoples in the rainforests is not explicitly named in the provided search results.
As the world grapples with the climate crisis, it is crucial to address the interconnected issues of drug trafficking and environmental degradation in the Amazon. The U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém presents a significant opportunity to bring these issues to the forefront and to explore potential solutions for a more sustainable and equitable future for the Amazon and its people.
