UNDCP PROJECT IN LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC SELECTED FOR EXPO 2000 IN HANOVER
Press Release
SOC/NAR/789
UNDCP PROJECT IN LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC SELECTED FOR EXPO 2000 IN HANOVER
19981112 VIENNA, 12 November (UN Information Service) -- An international jury has selected a United Nations-assisted effort to cut down on opium poppy growing in the Palaveck area of the Lao People's Democratic Republic as one of five projects to be showcased at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany.The project, set up by the Government with technical aid from the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), aims to offer farmers and their communities viable economic, social and ecological alternatives to opium poppy cultivation.
Drug control measures have been particularly successful in Palaveck, a region north of Vientiane. The combined efforts of the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the UNDCP have reduced annual opium production from 3.5 metric tons to less than 100 kilogrammes, transformed a rice-deficient into a rice-surplus zone and greatly improved the living conditions of about 6,000 people in the area, mostly ethnic Hmong.
Villagers have been trained in crop diversification, rice production, fish farming and livestock vaccination. Coffee, pepper, cardamon and ginger have been introduced as cash crops and improved methods of silk production as well as a newly constructed network of roads have allowed Hmong villagers to sell their products for the first time in Vientiane.
The launching of an anti-malaria campaign has cut down disease cases to negligible levels. The people, who live mainly in 10 villages of the Palaveck area, now have access to clean water and a vastly increased number of pupils can receive basic education.
UNDCP donors, including Sweden, Norway, the European Union, Japan and the United States, have contributed a total of $6.5 million to the project. The United States has pledged a further $1 million so that the project could be continued.
- 2 - Press Release SOC/NAR/789 12 November 1998
"In the midst of international criticism of the performance of the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, it is worth recalling that these organizations sometimes do what they were intended for and do it very well. The UNDCP opium crop control project in Palaveck, Laos, is an example," the United States Ambassador to the Lao People's Democratic Republic commented.
The Lao People's Democratic Republic will be represented at Expo 2000, to take place from 1 June to 31 October 2000, by a pavilion featuring the country's past, present and future, a "National Day" and several projects showing its commitment to preserving its cultural and environmental heritage as well as improving the livelihood of its people.
* *** *