Empty promises in Suriname

Sitting below a faded picture of the country's flora and fauna, the declaration is a particularly open affront to the Saamaka.

The tribal people are descendants of African slaves who escaped and later negotiated their freedom with their Dutch colonizers. For centuries they have protected the country’s rich biodiversity and the 1.4 million hectares of their ancestral territory in the Amazon.

They are a significant reason why 92% of Suriname’s forest cover is still intact.

Despite this legacy, Suriname has failed to recognise and respect the territorial rights of the Saamaka who today are 25,000 strong, divided in 12 clans and 74 villages. In refusing to do so, the country remains one of the only countries in South America to not officially recognise Indigenous, tribal or local communities' rights.

Before the logging companies arrived, the only way to reach the Saamaka's ancestral lands was by boat.

Those who traveled were usually Saamaka themselves, journeying to trade timber, forest products, and fish. Saamaka children, whose parents had moved to the city, would return to learn how to plant seeds and harvest crops on small forest farms.

But today, they worry about their continued ability to live in and protect their forest. The climate crisis is already damaging their harvests, while mining and logging operations continue to encroach on their lands, devastating the forest and aggravating the effects of climate change.

Jabini has witnessed the destruction of his people's ancestral lands before. Born into a lineage of Saamaka leaders, he was present in 1993 when the government first granted logging concessions on their territory.

Fast forward to June 2024, LandMark – a global Geographic Information System – is bringing these concessions into sharp focus.

According to the data, the government of Suriname has illegally granted 32% of Saamaka territory since 1993 – amounting to 447,000 of 1.5 million Ha – in logging and mining concessions, causing over 60,000 Ha of damaged or degraded forest. That's an area roughly the size of Singapore.

The government has granted every single one of these concessions all without the Saamaka's full, free, prior, and informed consent.

More troubling still, the concessions should have stopped years ago. After the tribe brought their case before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2007, it ruled in their favour, ordering the government of Suriname to stop the logging and mining activities, demarcate Saamaka territory, and legally recognise their collective land rights. In 2013, the Saamaka led a participatory mapping process to define their lands as part of the process.

Almost 17 years later, the government of Suriname continues to stall, blaming legislative technicalities for the lack of progress.

Instead of backing down, the Saamaka’s resistance is growing. In early 2024, youth leaders like Tjamba Afonsoewa and Nogitsia Adiembo helped organise the first-ever protest for their land rights, during which more than 200 Saamaka blocked access to the Palmera road. They also marched to the capital, gathering in front of the Cabinet of the President with their list of demands and the LandMark report “Suriname: the greenest country in the world?”.