Drugs and (Dis)order Spatial Borderland Biography Afghanistan, 2017-2021

Geodatabase created to support the research by the Drugs and (dis)order project, investigating the social-political dimensions of illicit drug economies in the context of war to peace transitions in the borderlands of Afghanistan. The geodatabase contains spatial data for the borderland areas studied on research sites, borderland locations, narcotics (opium production), borderland points of interest, drug routes, administrative boundaries, population, security events, transport and road networks, infrastructure (border barriers, cell tower locations and range, visible lights at night), agriculture, crop cycles and hydrology.

Drugs & (dis)order is a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project generating new evidence on how to transform illicit drug economies into peace economies in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar. By 2030, more than 50% of the world’s poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected states. And many of today’s armed conflicts are fuelled by illicit drug economies in borderland regions. Trillions of dollars have been spent on the War on Drugs, but securitised approaches have failed. In fact, they often increase state fragility and adversely affect the health and livelihoods of communities and households. In light of these failures, there’s increasing recognition that drug policies need to be more pro-poor and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the evidence base for this policy reform is patchy, politicised and contested. Drugs & (dis)order is helping to generate pro-poor policy solutions to transform illicit economies into peace economies. To do this we will: (1) Generate a robust evidence base on illicit drug economies and their effects on armed conflict, public health and livelihoods. (2) Identify new approaches and policy solutions to build more inclusive development and sustainable livelihoods in drugs affected contexts. (3) Build a global network of researchers and institutions in Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and the UK to continue this work. To obtain a free account please register with the UKDA.