For information only - not an official document

UNIS/MA/100
9 March 2015

Media Advisory

Supporting farmers for a sustainable future: Alternative development partnerships

On the side-lines of the 2015 CND, members of the media are invited to attend a press event on UNODC's cooperation with Zotter Chocolate in supporting former illicit crop growers in Colombia to export cocoa to Europe

VIENNA, 9 March (UN Information Service) - Michael Zotter, representing the Graz, Austria-based chocolatier, Zotter, will be highlighting the company's partnership with Colombian cocoa growers as part of alternative development work in the country. The Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Aldo Lale-Demoz, and Member State representatives will also be discussing this topic.

The alternative development programme works with some 234 farmer families from the Chocó region of Colombia. Through this, they have moved away from illicit crop cultivation and into commercially viable livelihoods, generating markedly higher incomes than those made illegally. This forms part of the wider UNODC Alternative Development National Programme in Colombia in which more than 156,000 families are involved.

Media representatives are invited to attend a Press Event with Mr Michael Zotter and UNODC Deputy Executive Director Aldo Lale-Demoz on Tuesday, 10 March at 12:30 CET, at the Press Room, M Building, Vienna International Centre. Media are also invited to attend a side event, where participants, including Mr Zotter and Mr Lale-Demoz, will discuss alternative development on the road to the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs. The side event will take place after the press meeting, at 13:10 at Conference Room 5, M Building, Vienna International Centre.

For media accreditation:

Media representatives who wish to attend this, and other side events at the CND, and who are not accredited to the VIC, should contact press@unvienna.org. Access to the M-building is via Checkpoint One of the Vienna International Centre.

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For more information, please contact:

Carlos Gómez del Campo
Associate Public Information Officer, UNODC Communications
Telephone: (+43- 1) 26060 4368
Email: carlos.gomezdelcampo[at]unodc.org