Duration 26
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Original Format: DVCAM
This is Surinam, a former Dutch colony. It's almost three-quarters the size of Great Britain, but has a population below half a million.
In 1667 the Dutch traded New York for Surinam with the British. Anxious to make the most of Surinam's great economic potential, the Dutch brought West African slaves to work the sugarcane plantations. The lucky ones escaped to the forest. Deep in the jungle they preserved their African culture untouched for over three centuries. But this unique cultural heritage is now under serious threat. Logging, poaching and gold prospecting have arrived in their jungle.In this edition of Earth Report; the story of the Maroons and the chances for survival of their traditional culture and the rainforest.
Independent since 1975, Surinam is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with the highest number of ethnic groups.
(Russel Mittermeier, Conservation International)You have the indigenous people, the Amerindians, you have the bushnegroe cultures that are unique in the world now. It's a unique and wonderful mix that is certainly not found anywhere else in South America and I don't think anywhere else in the world.
Most people in Surinam live along the coast. In the interior, indigenous Indians share the forest with the descendants of escaped African slaves. Some 20,000 people live in tribal communities in one of the world's key regions for nature conservation.
In the 17th century, Dutch colonizers established large sugarcane plantations along Surinam's main rivers. These plantations were the dot.coms of their day. To boost sugar production, African slaves were brutally snatched from their homeland to work here. (suspense music)
But some newly arrived slaves managed to escape and found refuge alongside Indians in the dense interior. They earned the nickname Maroons from the Spanish word 'cimmarron' meaning "wild" or "untamed".
For over 3 centuries their original way of life helped them survive. It developed into a unique African culture.(Maroon music group)But their self-imposed exile is ending. A world hungry for resources is now casting covetous eyes on this forgotten corner of South America. Foreign investment companies are targeting land that for centuries was home to Maroons and Indians. But can poverty-stricken Surinam resist the pressure for short term profit and much needed cash and preserve both its natural resources and indigenous cultures?
Cornelly Oliviera is a successful business woman, descended from African slaves. She owns a clothing shop and beauty salon in the capital, Paramaribo. She may live in the city but feels very strongly about the welfare and survival of the Maroon communities.
(CO)English: Traditional communities are being threatened. Concessions run straight through their land. So that is a big problem. If our forest is used so unwisely I think soon we will have very little forest.
Surinam is part of the Guyana Shield. According to Conservation International, this shield is the biggest undisturbed expanse of tropical rainforest left on Earth. One of the few places where you can still see rare species like the Blue Frog, Cock of the Rock and the Giant Otter.
(RM)Surinam is fortunate in that it still has about 80 to 90 % probably closer to 90% of its original forest cover, it's the highest percent of tropical rainforest cover of any country on earth and if you just think about it in terms of ecosystems services, Surinam and Guyana are the two countries that have the highest per capita availability of freshwater....
Deep in the heart of Surinam is the Central Nature Reserve, its the equivalent of more than one-and-a half million football pitches of virgin rainforest.
In November 200 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The Reserve lies partly in the traditional hunting territory of the Kwinti, one of the six major Maroon tribes. Kwinti Maroons have been granted limited hunting rights north of the Reserve. The Reserve management also gives them jobs - guarding the park and guiding tourists.With the largest area of protected tropical forest in the world and 16 other reserves covering 13% of the country, Surinam has exceeded internationally agreed targets for nature conservation. Theres real potential for ecotourism.
(RM)Surinam is a very privileged location, it is very close to the worlds' largest source of eco-tourists, the United States, it's easy to get to, it has got a lot of attractions, you can get out into unbroken rainforest wilderness with in about 45 minutes....
But with 70% of its population below the poverty line Surinam is poor compared to its neighbours and revenues promised from ecosystem services have yet to materialize. For cash-strapped governments timber and minerals are a far easier source of income. And with the world running out of timber this corner of South America is attracting growing attention. Asian timber companies have their eyes on Surinam. Ten years ago Malaysian and Indonesian companies were given limited concessions to log the country's virgin rain forest. By 2000, Asians were by far the biggest exporters of Surinamese roundwood.
(CO)English: I think that we, or our government, is having our forest out for sale. Currently there is an issue on giving thousands of hectares of rainforest to a Chinese company that wants to start logging and after that to plant palms for palm oil production. Well, we're holding our breath!
The Chinese have a long connection with Surinam. As early as 1853 Chinese families arrived here from Dutch Indonesia. Their descendants feel Surinamese and are an integral part of local society. Recently a new wave of Chinese arrived from the mainland. In 2003 a Chinese firm, China Zhong Heng Tai, offered to invest in local palm oil production. It wanted a concession to log 40.000 hectares of rainforest to make way for palms.
In an unprecedented concession to social accountability, the Surinamese government agreed to discuss the plan in a public meeting. The targeted area is worth 80 million dollars if they sell only the most valuable trees for timber. If the area is cleared and turned over to palm oil, its value rockets to 400 million dollars.
It's not difficult to see why governments are happy to see tropical forest turned over to other uses.The discussions were heated, with environmental worries and concerns about the real aims of the Chinese company.
(CO)English: I do not think that the normal Surinamese are very enthousiastic about this.... ..that the Chinese will get away with our wood, we, the people, do not see anything of the profit.. ..we do not have the feeling that we gain anything or any wellfare from this project.. and remembering the other Asian companies, we think they are just out to get our roundwood
(Anton Paal, National Parliament)English: The question that remains to be answered is how feasible is palm oil at the world market and when that answer is negative, one knows beforehand the whole story doesn't add up.
On paper, the contract obliges the Chinese company to set up a viable palm oil industry and not just cut down trees and leave.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: The phases are clearly stated in the contract and the government will control these... and if the criteria of each phase are not met, we can stop the phase or even the beginning..
Whatever the public concerns, they didn't impress the government in Paramaribo. In January 2004 the national assembly approved the Chinese deal, giving the company exclusive rights over a 38 year period. Palm oil production has already decimated large tracts of Asian rainforest. Does the same future await Surinam?
RM)English "I think what they issuing now are relatively small concessions, it's a choice whether you want to maintain these resources for the future or whether you want to basically liquidate them, whether you liquidate them quickly or a little more slowly, you are ultimately liquidating them because they are not truly in any meaningful sense renewable resources."
The public debate was in the capital Paramaribo, far from the Maroons who claim traditional rights to the forest. Various indigenous groups have got together to form a treaty committee. They say the government should have consulted tribal people first.
Mooiman)English: When you want to negotiate the interior, you first have to come to us. Let's go to our chief the Granman. We have had enough of these politics in Surinam !
There's still a wide economic gap between people in the coastal areas and tribal communities in the forest. The government hopes the new Chinese deal will bring jobs and infrastructure to the interior. The Chinese company says it'll even build a new city and harbor close to the concession site.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: I know that there will be consultations with the local people and those groups, to point out to them, that this palmoil project will also bring development for their communities
The crunch problem is differing views between the government and Maroons over legal rights. Treaties dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, drawn up by the Dutch, granted tribal communities rights to their land. For many Maroons, these treaties are still valid. They see themselves as rightful guardians of the whole interior.
(Mooiman)It is clearly stated here...of the old treaties... the legal validity of these, have not been reversed, the same as numerous other legal agreementsthat have been made in the past and were adapted, a similar approach applied to these treaties; they were kept after 1975 (independance)... the treaties are indeed antique, but the spirit and intention remain of importance...
To the government they're an unwelcome relic of a colonial past.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador) Yes, these treaties exist, true, but if they are still valid....... that's more a case for the academics
(Marroon dancing)The Maroons living in Surinam's rainforest have six main tribes. For each tribe the highest authority is the Granman -- a tribal chief whose power lasts a lifetime.
(Mooiman) Our Granman is chief, he is the head of the interior, nobody else... but the ministers want to rule over the Granman. They want to indicate how many square kilometers we have, that's impossible ! Who does the minister think he is? He visits us and asks us to vote for him and once we voted for him he starts bossing around ! The minister has been assigned for only four years, but our Granman is assigned for his entire life ! We do not want these politics anymore !
After a long civil war that raged through the eighties, a peace treaty was signed in 1992. This treaty recognised indigenous land rights. Unfortunately, there's still no agreement about the exact nature of these rights. In an effort to accommodate tribal needs, the government promised them ten seats in Surinam's National Parliament.
(Mooiman)They have promised ten seats to the people of the interior ...well, we should go and talk about that !But they say this gives them no real influence over the future of the forest.
(Mooiman) English: The Maroons and the Amerindians are kept poor! We have the right on these resources ! Look, the Dutch gave us aid.. So-called interior aid...in a sort of fund... This fund is done by us, the treaty committee we wrote to the Queen... ..and when Jan Pronk came to our country, he came with my letter in his hand.. The Dutch Government had send him here with my letter and I asked him... and those people...when the funds finally came here... the Surinamese government took that money...!But that money never reached us ! They want to dominate us and we do not want that anymore. We, the people of the interior should control these resources ourselves. Because we are poor and we do not get our share!
With bitter disagreement over who can exploit the forest, renewal of civil strife can never be ruled out.When the Surinamese government granted a gold prospecting concession to a foreign multinational in 1995, the two sides clashed. The Maroon village of Nieuw-Koffiekamp faced re-location and villagers blocked the entrance to the site.
(Bertin Paradis, Cambior)So the first pit that will be in production, the name of the pit will be Pay Caro. And it is going to be right here in front of us, all the mountains you see there, this is going to be the area of the first pit.
In 2002 Rosebel Gold Mines, a subsidiary of the Canadian multinational Cambior, was given a 25-year renewable right to mine for gold.
(BP)The mill will be ready to work, beginning of next year January, we will do some tests to start really the production in February 2004.
Fortunately, negotiations between Rosebel Gold Mines, the government and Maroons headed off trouble. Nieuw-Koffiekamp can't be relocated without consulting traditional village leaders. Rosebel Goldmines says it's committed to working with the Maroons to foster sustainable development.
Besides education and healthcare, the company also promised to create jobs for local people.But it's unlikely a few new jobs will be enough; in the past thousands have scratched a meager living from small-scale gold mining.
Here, another environmental crisis looms. What began as subsistence gold panning has run out of control. With the arrival of more than ten thousand Brazilian immigrants - or "garimpeiros" -- mining for subsistence has given way to mining for profit.
20 metric tonnes of mercuryPouring more than 20 metric tons of mercury into local waterways every year, these illegal gold miners are seen by environmentalists as one of the biggest threats to the delicate ecology of Surinam's rainforest. Excessive logging, poaching and unchecked gold mining is reckoned to account for ever-growing stretches of severely degraded forest.Lack of human resources and the right laws make it difficult for the government to properly control these illegal activities.
(Verkuyl, National Institute for Environment and Development)Surinam doesn't have any specific environmental legislation yet, we do have some sector legislation where we have environment related articles but until now we didn't have any environmental legislation specifically. For something to move, a problem needs to be evident, since we are so small in population you don't really experience environmental problems, although there are of course but the country is so big, if you don't really see a problem or experience a problem, things are not really moving on....
For the government now, it's easier to focus on environmental monitoring of multinational projects carried out by legitimate international companies.
(BP) First step is really to crush the stone to get a kind of powder, which will be mixed with some chemical product, we will use cyanide, gold in contact with cyanide will become liquid. The final product is a block of gold.Cyanide has caused problems for Cambior before.
In 1995, in neighbouring Guyana, a dam for collecting cyanide, leaked over a billion liters of the poison into the nearby Omai Creek. Cambior says that the ecosystem of the Omai Creek was quickly restored. The company now has environmental monitoring systems in place that are certified and in strict conformity with World Bank guidelines. But the Maroons near Rosebel Goldmines are alarmed and fear a catastrophe.
For Surinam, it is a question of balancing environmental and social risks against economic growth. And the realities of global markets force poor countries to make choices in the search for a solution to the countrys poverty.
Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: If eco-tourism is in high demand, and the goldprice is low, we will invest more in eco-tourism but I can imagine that it is just as well possible, that the gold price is rising, and the tourist stay at home... then we will choose otherwise, It all depends on supply and demand!
(CO)English: We have a lot of rainforest but if you give away thousands of hectares to ten people every time, you already lost a quarter of your forest, so I think we should be very careful with it.
I don't believe we can afford it to loose this piece of virgin rainforest as well... we can't afford it... ..so I wonder if we are really waiting for these giants, the investors or that we should do it differently
Cornelly Olivieira, decided to take action. Working from a base in the capital The Women's Business Group helps Maroon communities in the Brokopondo district, near the Rosebel Goldmine.
(CO)English: We believe in social entrepreneur ship, to open the eyes of people and show them opportunities in their environment with which they can make a living.
In Klaaskreek, northeast of the Rosebel Gold Mine, Cornelly and her group are helping to promote and export traditional Maroon handicrafts. All profits go back to the community. Most women in Klaaskreek spend their time designing textiles. With the help of the Women's Business Group, they've found a ready market throughout the Caribbean. They also plan to tap the Maroon's vast knowledge of medicinal plants and woodworking.
(CO) One problem that the Maroon women brought up, was the fact that they didn't have space, ...where they could gather to work. They always used their own houses... You know these houses, they are very small, Just one room where everyone lives, sometimes with ten or fifteen people...it's very small, just one room... So you understand that this influenced the designing; it was delivered with marks... or other inconsistencies...
Motivated by the plight of the Maroons, Cornelly has raised funds to build a community center and training facility. This small step has brought Maroon communities together to learn how to unlock the economic potential of their cultural and ecological resources.
(CO) English: This is the show piece of the village, I think a lot of people will visit this centre. And if the value is understood, I think it could be very well used, maybe we can organize seminars about the rainforest for people from the capital ! The community can even ask rent for the centre....my commercial mind is thinking again.....
If economic initiatives like Cornelly's give tribal people new - sustainable - ways to earn a living, perhaps the farsighted vision of Surinam's conservationists, over 50 years ago, could pay off yet again.
(CO) English: Unfortunately our policy makers do not see that we, the people of Surinam, don't see any revenue or advantages of foreign concessions. Surinam has enormous potential, eco-tourism is coming up, the Maroons and Indians have a lot to offer; they have a rich culture, I think that can serve the whole world.
(Mooiman)Let the Dutch be honest with the people of the interior, because the old treaties.. have never been broken...but the Dutch government is afraid... It is a wealthy country but they are afraid, just let them come and talk to us...
(RM)Surinam has gotten a pretty good green image over the past 5 or 6 years with the creation of this big reserve and I hope that this government and future government will see fit to follow that pattern.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: I am certainly not afraid the rainforest will vanish in the future. The fact that we protected a large area as world heritage, gives me enough faith that it will exist for many generations to come.CREDITS
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Original Format: DVCAM
This is Surinam, a former Dutch colony. It's almost three-quarters the size of Great Britain, but has a population below half a million.
In 1667 the Dutch traded New York for Surinam with the British. Anxious to make the most of Surinam's great economic potential, the Dutch brought West African slaves to work the sugarcane plantations. The lucky ones escaped to the forest. Deep in the jungle they preserved their African culture untouched for over three centuries. But this unique cultural heritage is now under serious threat. Logging, poaching and gold prospecting have arrived in their jungle.In this edition of Earth Report; the story of the Maroons and the chances for survival of their traditional culture and the rainforest.
Independent since 1975, Surinam is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with the highest number of ethnic groups.
(Russel Mittermeier, Conservation International)You have the indigenous people, the Amerindians, you have the bushnegroe cultures that are unique in the world now. It's a unique and wonderful mix that is certainly not found anywhere else in South America and I don't think anywhere else in the world.
Most people in Surinam live along the coast. In the interior, indigenous Indians share the forest with the descendants of escaped African slaves. Some 20,000 people live in tribal communities in one of the world's key regions for nature conservation.
In the 17th century, Dutch colonizers established large sugarcane plantations along Surinam's main rivers. These plantations were the dot.coms of their day. To boost sugar production, African slaves were brutally snatched from their homeland to work here. (suspense music)
But some newly arrived slaves managed to escape and found refuge alongside Indians in the dense interior. They earned the nickname Maroons from the Spanish word 'cimmarron' meaning "wild" or "untamed".
For over 3 centuries their original way of life helped them survive. It developed into a unique African culture.(Maroon music group)But their self-imposed exile is ending. A world hungry for resources is now casting covetous eyes on this forgotten corner of South America. Foreign investment companies are targeting land that for centuries was home to Maroons and Indians. But can poverty-stricken Surinam resist the pressure for short term profit and much needed cash and preserve both its natural resources and indigenous cultures?
Cornelly Oliviera is a successful business woman, descended from African slaves. She owns a clothing shop and beauty salon in the capital, Paramaribo. She may live in the city but feels very strongly about the welfare and survival of the Maroon communities.
(CO)English: Traditional communities are being threatened. Concessions run straight through their land. So that is a big problem. If our forest is used so unwisely I think soon we will have very little forest.
Surinam is part of the Guyana Shield. According to Conservation International, this shield is the biggest undisturbed expanse of tropical rainforest left on Earth. One of the few places where you can still see rare species like the Blue Frog, Cock of the Rock and the Giant Otter.
(RM)Surinam is fortunate in that it still has about 80 to 90 % probably closer to 90% of its original forest cover, it's the highest percent of tropical rainforest cover of any country on earth and if you just think about it in terms of ecosystems services, Surinam and Guyana are the two countries that have the highest per capita availability of freshwater....
Deep in the heart of Surinam is the Central Nature Reserve, its the equivalent of more than one-and-a half million football pitches of virgin rainforest.
In November 200 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The Reserve lies partly in the traditional hunting territory of the Kwinti, one of the six major Maroon tribes. Kwinti Maroons have been granted limited hunting rights north of the Reserve. The Reserve management also gives them jobs - guarding the park and guiding tourists.With the largest area of protected tropical forest in the world and 16 other reserves covering 13% of the country, Surinam has exceeded internationally agreed targets for nature conservation. Theres real potential for ecotourism.
(RM)Surinam is a very privileged location, it is very close to the worlds' largest source of eco-tourists, the United States, it's easy to get to, it has got a lot of attractions, you can get out into unbroken rainforest wilderness with in about 45 minutes....
But with 70% of its population below the poverty line Surinam is poor compared to its neighbours and revenues promised from ecosystem services have yet to materialize. For cash-strapped governments timber and minerals are a far easier source of income. And with the world running out of timber this corner of South America is attracting growing attention. Asian timber companies have their eyes on Surinam. Ten years ago Malaysian and Indonesian companies were given limited concessions to log the country's virgin rain forest. By 2000, Asians were by far the biggest exporters of Surinamese roundwood.
(CO)English: I think that we, or our government, is having our forest out for sale. Currently there is an issue on giving thousands of hectares of rainforest to a Chinese company that wants to start logging and after that to plant palms for palm oil production. Well, we're holding our breath!
The Chinese have a long connection with Surinam. As early as 1853 Chinese families arrived here from Dutch Indonesia. Their descendants feel Surinamese and are an integral part of local society. Recently a new wave of Chinese arrived from the mainland. In 2003 a Chinese firm, China Zhong Heng Tai, offered to invest in local palm oil production. It wanted a concession to log 40.000 hectares of rainforest to make way for palms.
In an unprecedented concession to social accountability, the Surinamese government agreed to discuss the plan in a public meeting. The targeted area is worth 80 million dollars if they sell only the most valuable trees for timber. If the area is cleared and turned over to palm oil, its value rockets to 400 million dollars.
It's not difficult to see why governments are happy to see tropical forest turned over to other uses.The discussions were heated, with environmental worries and concerns about the real aims of the Chinese company.
(CO)English: I do not think that the normal Surinamese are very enthousiastic about this.... ..that the Chinese will get away with our wood, we, the people, do not see anything of the profit.. ..we do not have the feeling that we gain anything or any wellfare from this project.. and remembering the other Asian companies, we think they are just out to get our roundwood
(Anton Paal, National Parliament)English: The question that remains to be answered is how feasible is palm oil at the world market and when that answer is negative, one knows beforehand the whole story doesn't add up.
On paper, the contract obliges the Chinese company to set up a viable palm oil industry and not just cut down trees and leave.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: The phases are clearly stated in the contract and the government will control these... and if the criteria of each phase are not met, we can stop the phase or even the beginning..
Whatever the public concerns, they didn't impress the government in Paramaribo. In January 2004 the national assembly approved the Chinese deal, giving the company exclusive rights over a 38 year period. Palm oil production has already decimated large tracts of Asian rainforest. Does the same future await Surinam?
RM)English "I think what they issuing now are relatively small concessions, it's a choice whether you want to maintain these resources for the future or whether you want to basically liquidate them, whether you liquidate them quickly or a little more slowly, you are ultimately liquidating them because they are not truly in any meaningful sense renewable resources."
The public debate was in the capital Paramaribo, far from the Maroons who claim traditional rights to the forest. Various indigenous groups have got together to form a treaty committee. They say the government should have consulted tribal people first.
Mooiman)English: When you want to negotiate the interior, you first have to come to us. Let's go to our chief the Granman. We have had enough of these politics in Surinam !
There's still a wide economic gap between people in the coastal areas and tribal communities in the forest. The government hopes the new Chinese deal will bring jobs and infrastructure to the interior. The Chinese company says it'll even build a new city and harbor close to the concession site.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: I know that there will be consultations with the local people and those groups, to point out to them, that this palmoil project will also bring development for their communities
The crunch problem is differing views between the government and Maroons over legal rights. Treaties dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, drawn up by the Dutch, granted tribal communities rights to their land. For many Maroons, these treaties are still valid. They see themselves as rightful guardians of the whole interior.
(Mooiman)It is clearly stated here...of the old treaties... the legal validity of these, have not been reversed, the same as numerous other legal agreementsthat have been made in the past and were adapted, a similar approach applied to these treaties; they were kept after 1975 (independance)... the treaties are indeed antique, but the spirit and intention remain of importance...
To the government they're an unwelcome relic of a colonial past.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador) Yes, these treaties exist, true, but if they are still valid....... that's more a case for the academics
(Marroon dancing)The Maroons living in Surinam's rainforest have six main tribes. For each tribe the highest authority is the Granman -- a tribal chief whose power lasts a lifetime.
(Mooiman) Our Granman is chief, he is the head of the interior, nobody else... but the ministers want to rule over the Granman. They want to indicate how many square kilometers we have, that's impossible ! Who does the minister think he is? He visits us and asks us to vote for him and once we voted for him he starts bossing around ! The minister has been assigned for only four years, but our Granman is assigned for his entire life ! We do not want these politics anymore !
After a long civil war that raged through the eighties, a peace treaty was signed in 1992. This treaty recognised indigenous land rights. Unfortunately, there's still no agreement about the exact nature of these rights. In an effort to accommodate tribal needs, the government promised them ten seats in Surinam's National Parliament.
(Mooiman)They have promised ten seats to the people of the interior ...well, we should go and talk about that !But they say this gives them no real influence over the future of the forest.
(Mooiman) English: The Maroons and the Amerindians are kept poor! We have the right on these resources ! Look, the Dutch gave us aid.. So-called interior aid...in a sort of fund... This fund is done by us, the treaty committee we wrote to the Queen... ..and when Jan Pronk came to our country, he came with my letter in his hand.. The Dutch Government had send him here with my letter and I asked him... and those people...when the funds finally came here... the Surinamese government took that money...!But that money never reached us ! They want to dominate us and we do not want that anymore. We, the people of the interior should control these resources ourselves. Because we are poor and we do not get our share!
With bitter disagreement over who can exploit the forest, renewal of civil strife can never be ruled out.When the Surinamese government granted a gold prospecting concession to a foreign multinational in 1995, the two sides clashed. The Maroon village of Nieuw-Koffiekamp faced re-location and villagers blocked the entrance to the site.
(Bertin Paradis, Cambior)So the first pit that will be in production, the name of the pit will be Pay Caro. And it is going to be right here in front of us, all the mountains you see there, this is going to be the area of the first pit.
In 2002 Rosebel Gold Mines, a subsidiary of the Canadian multinational Cambior, was given a 25-year renewable right to mine for gold.
(BP)The mill will be ready to work, beginning of next year January, we will do some tests to start really the production in February 2004.
Fortunately, negotiations between Rosebel Gold Mines, the government and Maroons headed off trouble. Nieuw-Koffiekamp can't be relocated without consulting traditional village leaders. Rosebel Goldmines says it's committed to working with the Maroons to foster sustainable development.
Besides education and healthcare, the company also promised to create jobs for local people.But it's unlikely a few new jobs will be enough; in the past thousands have scratched a meager living from small-scale gold mining.
Here, another environmental crisis looms. What began as subsistence gold panning has run out of control. With the arrival of more than ten thousand Brazilian immigrants - or "garimpeiros" -- mining for subsistence has given way to mining for profit.
20 metric tonnes of mercuryPouring more than 20 metric tons of mercury into local waterways every year, these illegal gold miners are seen by environmentalists as one of the biggest threats to the delicate ecology of Surinam's rainforest. Excessive logging, poaching and unchecked gold mining is reckoned to account for ever-growing stretches of severely degraded forest.Lack of human resources and the right laws make it difficult for the government to properly control these illegal activities.
(Verkuyl, National Institute for Environment and Development)Surinam doesn't have any specific environmental legislation yet, we do have some sector legislation where we have environment related articles but until now we didn't have any environmental legislation specifically. For something to move, a problem needs to be evident, since we are so small in population you don't really experience environmental problems, although there are of course but the country is so big, if you don't really see a problem or experience a problem, things are not really moving on....
For the government now, it's easier to focus on environmental monitoring of multinational projects carried out by legitimate international companies.
(BP) First step is really to crush the stone to get a kind of powder, which will be mixed with some chemical product, we will use cyanide, gold in contact with cyanide will become liquid. The final product is a block of gold.Cyanide has caused problems for Cambior before.
In 1995, in neighbouring Guyana, a dam for collecting cyanide, leaked over a billion liters of the poison into the nearby Omai Creek. Cambior says that the ecosystem of the Omai Creek was quickly restored. The company now has environmental monitoring systems in place that are certified and in strict conformity with World Bank guidelines. But the Maroons near Rosebel Goldmines are alarmed and fear a catastrophe.
For Surinam, it is a question of balancing environmental and social risks against economic growth. And the realities of global markets force poor countries to make choices in the search for a solution to the countrys poverty.
Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: If eco-tourism is in high demand, and the goldprice is low, we will invest more in eco-tourism but I can imagine that it is just as well possible, that the gold price is rising, and the tourist stay at home... then we will choose otherwise, It all depends on supply and demand!
(CO)English: We have a lot of rainforest but if you give away thousands of hectares to ten people every time, you already lost a quarter of your forest, so I think we should be very careful with it.
I don't believe we can afford it to loose this piece of virgin rainforest as well... we can't afford it... ..so I wonder if we are really waiting for these giants, the investors or that we should do it differently
Cornelly Olivieira, decided to take action. Working from a base in the capital The Women's Business Group helps Maroon communities in the Brokopondo district, near the Rosebel Goldmine.
(CO)English: We believe in social entrepreneur ship, to open the eyes of people and show them opportunities in their environment with which they can make a living.
In Klaaskreek, northeast of the Rosebel Gold Mine, Cornelly and her group are helping to promote and export traditional Maroon handicrafts. All profits go back to the community. Most women in Klaaskreek spend their time designing textiles. With the help of the Women's Business Group, they've found a ready market throughout the Caribbean. They also plan to tap the Maroon's vast knowledge of medicinal plants and woodworking.
(CO) One problem that the Maroon women brought up, was the fact that they didn't have space, ...where they could gather to work. They always used their own houses... You know these houses, they are very small, Just one room where everyone lives, sometimes with ten or fifteen people...it's very small, just one room... So you understand that this influenced the designing; it was delivered with marks... or other inconsistencies...
Motivated by the plight of the Maroons, Cornelly has raised funds to build a community center and training facility. This small step has brought Maroon communities together to learn how to unlock the economic potential of their cultural and ecological resources.
(CO) English: This is the show piece of the village, I think a lot of people will visit this centre. And if the value is understood, I think it could be very well used, maybe we can organize seminars about the rainforest for people from the capital ! The community can even ask rent for the centre....my commercial mind is thinking again.....
If economic initiatives like Cornelly's give tribal people new - sustainable - ways to earn a living, perhaps the farsighted vision of Surinam's conservationists, over 50 years ago, could pay off yet again.
(CO) English: Unfortunately our policy makers do not see that we, the people of Surinam, don't see any revenue or advantages of foreign concessions. Surinam has enormous potential, eco-tourism is coming up, the Maroons and Indians have a lot to offer; they have a rich culture, I think that can serve the whole world.
(Mooiman)Let the Dutch be honest with the people of the interior, because the old treaties.. have never been broken...but the Dutch government is afraid... It is a wealthy country but they are afraid, just let them come and talk to us...
(RM)Surinam has gotten a pretty good green image over the past 5 or 6 years with the creation of this big reserve and I hope that this government and future government will see fit to follow that pattern.
(Edgar Amanh, Ambassador)English: I am certainly not afraid the rainforest will vanish in the future. The fact that we protected a large area as world heritage, gives me enough faith that it will exist for many generations to come.CREDITS