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SURINAME (Surinam)
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Suriname Forest Figures
Forest Cover
Total forest area: 14,776,000 ha
% of land area: 94.7%
Primary forest cover: 14,214,000 ha
% of land area: 91.1%
% total forest area: 96.2%
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005
Annual change in forest cover: n/a
Annual deforestation rate: n/a
Change in defor. rate since '90s: n/a
Total forest loss since 1990: n/a
Total forest loss since 1990:0.0%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: n/a
Annual deforestation rate: n/a
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990:0.0%
Forest Classification
Public: 99.7%
Private: 0.3%
Other: n/a
Use
Production: 27.1%
Protection: n/a
Conservation: 12.8%
Social services: n/a
Multiple purpose: 3.3%
None or unknown: 56.8
Forest Area Breakdown
Total area: 14,776,000 ha
Primary: 14,214,000 ha
Modified natural: 550,000 ha
Semi-natural: 5,000 ha
Production plantation: 7,000 ha
Production plantation: n/a
Plantations
Plantations, 2005: 7,000 ha
% of total forest cover: n.s.%
Annual change rate (00-05): n/a
Carbon storage
Above-ground biomass: 8,016 M t
Below-ground biomass: 3,367 M t
Area annually affected by
Fire: n/a
Insects: n/a
Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red list
Number of native tree species: 600
Critically endangered: 1
Endangered: 2
Vulnerable: 24
Wood removal 2005
Industrial roundwood: 200,000 m3 o.b.
Wood fuel: 5,000 m3 o.b.
Value of forest products, 2005
Industrial roundwood: $15,000,000
Wood fuel: $60,000
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): n/a
Total Value: $15,060,000
More forest statistics for Suriname
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Suriname's extensive forest cover and low population, about 400,000 concentrated in the capital and coastal cities, give it one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world. Only 5 percent of the population lives in the rainforest; this includes indigenous peoples and six tribes of Maroons—descendants of escaped slaves who recreated forest communities centuries ago and today retain their traditional West African style (ironic since West Africa's rainforests are depleted). Conflicts between the coastal population and the natives of the forested interior manifested themselves in a bloody six-year civil war that was resolved in 1992 with the signing of a peace treaty. Under the treaty, the interior and indigenous populations have the right to their indigenous lands and to control economic activity on those lands.
Despite being ranked by the World Bank as among the 17 potentially richest countries in the world, given its gold, oil, diamond, and other natural resources, Suriname in the early 1990s was in a dire economic situation. It had virtually no international trade, dilapidated industries, no foreign aid, and a budget with spending exceeding revenues by 150 percent.
By the mid-1990s, the government—desperate for cash—granted large concessions to foreign timber and mining interests. Some 25 percent of the country was put up for logging by Malaysian and Indonesian timber firms. The terms of the agreement, full of loopholes, granted forest land at less than $35 an acre ($262 m for 7.5 m acres). Analysis of the figures showed that while loggers stood to make more than US$28 million annually over the 25-year concession, Suriname would only earn get US$2 million per year. Further, according to forestry experts, the only profitable way to log regions in Suriname is by clear-cutting.
In late 1995 widespread protests by a coalition of indigenous maroons, environmentalists, and the local timber industry helped foil part of a deal that would have further expanded a concession owned by MUSA of Indonesia. Nevertheless, MUSA continued to log other concessions with abandon. According to local reports, the company's close relationship with legislators allowed it to escape prosecution for violating existing forestry regulations.
On Oct. 7, 1997, the Surinamese government established a forestry project to monitor and control logging in addition to setting aside new protected areas. The controversy and pressure inspired by the plan to hand out giant logging concessions to Berjaya, MUSA, and Suri Atlantic in 1995 made the government more cautious about granting logging concessions, and it subsequently refused a number of timber concession applications. In June 1998, the government announced the establishment of the Central Suriname Wilderness Nature Reserve, covering 1,592,000 hectares.
While the giant concessions granted in 1995 did not come to fruition in the late 1990s, several smaller concessions were actively logged. Outdated forestry laws—which provided very little revenue for the government per log harvested (one cent per log according to a report from Forestsmonitor.org)—meant that the forest service was chonically unstaffed, concession monitoring was poor, and enforcement was lax. This appears to be still the case today, and corruption in the forest service is also a major problem.
According to FAO data, in 2002 Suriname produced 203,000 cubic meters of industrial roundwood, sawnwood, and wood-based panels; 35,000 cubic meters of this was exported, suggesting that logging is indeed still occurring today. In August 2003, an International Tropical Timber Organization mission observed that "despite the best efforts of the Government of Suriname, the country is still far from implementing sustainable forest management, in part because of insufficient institutional capacity."
A second major cause of concern to environmalists is the developing mining sector. Suriname is known to have rich deposits of gold and bauxite, and mining companies working in the country have checkered pasts with regards to human rights and environmental safegards. One company, Golden Star Resources of Canada, was responsible for a massive cyanide spill in neighboring Guyana in 1995 and caused the forceable eviction of hundreds of local people.
Suriname's inexpensive power costs make it attractive to the energy-intensive aluminum business. In the 1960s, the Alcoa aluminum company built a dam at Afobaka, which flooded 1,560 square kilometers (600 square miles) of forest and created one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.
All these developments suggest deforestation is likely on the rise in Suriname, but deforestation figures for the country are spotty. The FAO has not updated its forestry statistics for Suriname since 1990.
The Surinamese government has recently taken steps to bolster its nascent eco-tourism industry. More than 12 percent of the country is now protected—at least on paper—and the government has forged a bioprospecting relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb, a U.S. pharmaceutical company. Reportedly, the agreement will provide royalties to local peoples from any derived drugs. Russ Mittermier, head of Conservation International, which has a large presence in the country, estimates that revenue from drug sales would bring in far more than logging for the people of Suriname. The trade in rattan-like vines for furniture and other renewable forest products is growing.
Recent articles | Suriname news updates | XML
Amazon rainforest children to get medicinal plant training from shamans
(11/21/2007) The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) -- a group using innovative approaches to preserving culture and improving health among Amazonian rainforest tribes -- has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Nature's Path, an organic cereal manufacturer. The funds will allow ACT to address one of the most pressing social concerns for Amazon forest dwellers by expanding its educational and cultural "Shamans and Apprentice" program for indigenous children in the region.
Amphibian extinction may be worse than thought
(10/31/2007) Amphibian extinction rates may be higher than previously thought, according to new DNA analysis that found more than 60 unrecognized species in the Guiana Shield of South America.
Conservationists need to work with, not against, rural poor
(10/24/2007) Rural populations have long been demonized by conservationists, but this is changing. Increasingly, conservation groups see that without the support of rural populations, protected areas can in places be little more than ineffective "paper parks". As such, today community involvement is viewed as a critical part of any conservation program, whether it be protecting biodiversity, slowing deforestation, curtailing illegal logging and poaching, or establishing reserves.
Low deforestation countries to see least benefit from carbon trading
(8/13/2007) Countries that have done the best job protecting their tropical forests stand to gain the least from proposed incentives to combat global warming through carbon offsets, warns a new study published in Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Biology (PLoS). The authors say that "high forest cover with low rates of deforestation" (HFLD) nations "could become the most vulnerable targets for deforestation if the Kyoto Protocol and upcoming negotiations on carbon trading fail to include intact standing forest."
Mining gets approval despite recent species discoveries
(6/13/2007) Suriname will allow mining in a highly biodiverse tract of forest where 24 previously unknown species were recently discovered. The decision had been expected.
Pictures of newly discovered species in Suriname
(6/4/2007) Scientists documented 467 species, including 24 species believed new to science, during a rainforest survey in eastern Suriname, South America. The expedition, led by Conservation International (CI), was sponsored by two mining companies, BHP-Billiton Maatschappij Suriname (BMS) and Suriname Aluminium Company LLC (Suralco), hoping to mine the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum. Conservation International said the Rapid Assessment Survey (RAP) will help "give miners guidance on protecting unique plants and animals during potential future development," according to a statement from the organization.
China tropical log imports jump at Jiangsu port
(5/16/2007) Logs imports through Zhangjiagang Port in Jiangsu Province, China have increased significantly in 2007, reports the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) in its bi-weekly update.
Time is running out for French Guiana's rainforests
(12/19/2006) Understanding relationships between plants and animals is key to understanding rainforest ecology. Dr. Pierre-Michel Forget of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in France is a renowned expert on the interdependency between rainforest trees and seed disperses. Author of dozens of papers on tropical forest ecology, Dr Forget is increasingly concerned about deforestation and biodiversity loss in forests of the Guiana Shield region of Northern South America. In particular he sees the invasion of informal gold miners, known as garimpeiros, as a significant threat to forests in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela.
Amazon Indians use Google Earth, GPS to protect forest home
(11/14/2006) Deep in the most remote jungles of South America, Amazon Indians are using Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping, and other technologies to protect their fast-dwindling home. Tribes in Suriname, Brazil, and Colombia are combining their traditional knowledge of the rainforest with Western technology to conserve forests and maintain ties to their history and cultural traditions, which include profound knowledge of the forest ecosystem and medicinal plants. Helping them is the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a nonprofit organization working with indigenous people to conserve biodiversity, health, and culture in South American rainforests.
Carbon finance could net Guyana and Suriname tens of millions of dollars
(11/6/2006) Guyana and Suriname -- two of South America's least known countries -- could earn tens of millions of dollars through a global warming deal that may be proposed this week at U.N. climate talks between 189 countries in Nairobi, Kenya.
Indians are key to rainforest conservation efforts says renowned ethnobotanist
(10/31/2006) Tropical rainforests house hundreds of thousands of species of plants, many of which hold promise for their compounds which can be used to ward off pests and fight human disease. No one understands the secrets of these plants better than indigenous shamans -medicine men and women - who have developed boundless knowledge of this library of flora for curing everything from foot rot to diabetes. But like the forests themselves, the knowledge of these botanical wizards is fast-disappearing due to deforestation and profound cultural transformation among younger generations. The combined loss of this knowledge and these forests irreplaceably impoverishes the world of cultural and biological diversity. Dr. Mark Plotkin, President of the non-profit Amazon Conservation Team, is working to stop this fate by partnering with indigenous people to conserve biodiversity, health, and culture in South American rainforests. Plotkin, a renowned ethnobotanist and accomplished author (Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, Medicine Quest) who was named one of Time Magazine's environmental "Hero for the Planet," has spent parts of the past 25 years living and working with shamans in Latin America. Through his experiences, Plotkin has concluded that conservation and the well-being of indigenous people are intrinsically linked -- in forests inhabited by indigenous populations, you can't have one without the other. Plotkin believes that existing conservation initiatives would be better-served by having more integration between indigenous populations and other forest preservation efforts.
Forest restoration important in Guyana
(5/1/2006) Located on the northern edge of South America, bordered by Suriname, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Atlantic Ocean, lays a small but vibrant country with a wealth of culture, biodiversity and opportunity. During the week of 13-17 March 2006, representatives from Guyanese government departments, civil society and indigenous peoples' organizations met in the capital city, Georgetown, with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Tropical Timber Organization at a national workshop on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). The workshop introduced the concept of FLR with the intention of better understanding how it may be applied in the Guyana context.
Suriname: Environmental Profile
(2/15/2005) An overview of tropical rainforets found in Suriname. Includes forest cover and deforestation statistics.
Suggested reading - Books
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]
Other resources
Contact me if you have suggestions on other rainforest-related environmental sites and resources for this country.
Image copyright Google Earth, MDA EarthSet, DigitalGlobe 2005
CIA-World Factbook Profile
FAO-Forestry Profile
Last updated: 6 Feb 2006 |
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