WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas
Event

Green Coca: Industrialization, Commerce, and the Well-being of the Andean Community

Thursday, 11 August 2016
Popayán-Cauca, Colombia

Open Society Foundations, the NGO Community Tawantinsuyu, and the University of Cauca-Proyecto Cicaficultura are proud to present the 7th International Forum on Coca Leaves. The theme this year is: Green Coca: Industrialization, Commerce, and the Well-being of the Andean Community.

This forum aims to promote the cultural, medicinal, nutritional, economic, commercial, and sacred values of coca leaves at a national and international level. The panels will present information on scientific, ethno-botanic, and social research with the purpose of encouraging a change in the perceptions of coca, a natural and sacred resource from Andean cultures.

The objective is to promote the legal economy of coca leaves through the industrialization of this natural resource, which is part of the cultural heritage of the Andean-Amazonian Region. The forum seeks to promote regional commerce and the well-being of the Andean Community, in addition to providing a realistic alternative to current drug policies.

Dates and Venue: August 11 and 12, 2016, in Salón “Los Monjes” at the Hotel DANN Monasterio, in Popayán-Cauca, Colombia.

Entry is free and open to the public.

The event is sponsored by the NGO Comunidad Tawantinsuyu (Perú), in collaboration with the University of Cauca – CICAFICULTURA Project (Colombia), Open Society Foundations (U.S.A.), the Research Centre Drugs and Human Rights-CIDDH (Perú), the Observatory for Agriculture and Human Rights OCDI GLOBAL-INDEPAZ (Colombia), and MamaCoca (Colombia). WOLA is a media sponsor of the event.