The publication From Forest to Dust presents a diagnosis with unprecedented data on the dynamics and the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of the prohibition of the coca and cocaine production chain in the Amazon Basin and in Brazil. By naming prohibition as a driver of the climate crisis, it warns of the urgency of incorporating drug policy reform and ecological harm reduction into mitigation, adaptation and territorial justice strategies.
De Selva a Polvo presenta datos inéditos sobre las dinámicas y los impactos socioeconómicos y ambientales de la prohibición de la cadena productiva de la coca y la cocaína en la Cuenca Amazónica y en Brasil. Al señalar la prohibición como vector de la crisis climática, alerta sobre la urgencia de incorporar la reforma de las políticas de drogas y la reducción de daños ecológicos en las estrategias de mitigación, adaptación y justicia territorial.
A publicação Floresta em Pó apresenta um diagnóstico com dados inéditos sobre as dinâmicas e os impactos socioeconômicos e ambientais da proibição da cadeia produtiva da coca e da cocaína na Bacia Amazônica e no Brasil. Ao apontar a proibição como vetor da crise climática, alerta para a urgência de incorporar a reforma das políticas de drogas e a redução de danos ecológicos nas estratégias de mitigação, adaptação e justiça territorial.
Our seminal and ground-breaking report exposes a critical, yet long-overlooked truth: that the system of drug prohibition is actively undermining climate action & justice.
Bringing together extensive evidence, it reveals how prohibition & international drug policies fuel organised crime, corruption, and degradation across some of the planet’s most ecologically fragile regions.
At its core, the report issues a clear call to the environmental movement: Addressing the climate emergency requires urgent, coordinated action by the environmental and drug policy movements, and true climate justice means replacing prohibition with equitable regulation that supports people & planet.
In a year when global attention will be focused on the Amazon - particularly on Belém, the host city of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) - we launched a special edition of Revista PLATÔ titled Intersection: Land Use, Drug Policy, and Climate Justice.
Across forests, rural areas, metropolitan regions, and coastal zones, prohibition has turned drug trafficking into a common currency for various forms of crime, undermining territorial governance, hindering climate adaptation efforts, and obstructing the development of new sustainable economies.
This edition features 17 articles written by experts from diverse fields, aiming to inform and enrich the debate on land use and climate justice in light of the complex dynamics shaped by current drug policies in Brazil.
RESOURCE MAP
Over the last few decades evidence from around the world has been accumulating that makes a clear link between drug prohibition and environmental harm.
An aim of our Coalition is to map and consolidate this evidence, so we better understand, share and utilise this knowledge, and can appropriately support those living in the most impacted regions.
It is time for human rights, environmental and sustainable development movement to meaningfully engage with this evidence so we can work together to address the harms it describes, and map out pathways to reform.
Huge risks are taken by those on the frontlines of these intersecting conflicts to speak out about these dynamics. Violence against human rights and environmental defenders, is disproportionately concentrated in regions where the war on drugs is being fought with the greatest ferocity.
As a Coalition we call to environmental organisations and NGOs that are headquartered in the Global North to shoulder this burden and risk. We call on them to show leadership on drug policy reform especially when their primary objective is to protect fragile ecosystems and secure the rights of Indigenous peoples.
VIDEO: GLOBAL DRUG POLICY IS A BARRIER TO CLIMATE JUSTICE