Alternative Development to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: Southeast Asia

Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a major challenge, especially in poor, economically, and socially excluded areas affected by illicit drug crop cultivation. Among such areas are the underdeveloped, mountainous regions of Southeast Asia, in particular in the Golden Triangle countries (Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand). This chapter discusses the concept of alternative development, the main goal of which is to reduce the dependence of the people of poor developing countries on illicit drug crop cultivation and to improve their general standard of living. In addition, it assumes that real independence from the illicit drug economy will only be possible if a sustainable alternative to illicit crop cultivation and the illicit income it generates is created. The analysis was conducted on the example of the selected Southeast Asian countries affected by illicit drug crop cultivation. The study, based on the experience of the Golden Triangle countries, especially Thailand, puts forward the thesis that alternative development in the long term offers a real chance to permanently change the source of income of the population living in poor, underdeveloped regions of the country, originally relying on illicit drug crop cultivation, by providing them with an alternative income from legitimate sources as part of the actions of state authorities to eradicate illicit drug crop cultivation, while contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in these areas.