EMPOWERING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES TO PROTECT NATURE IN SURINAME The forests of southern Suriname provide over 70 percent of the nation’s freshwater resources, house vast biodiversity and unique cultural heritage—and store upwards of 5.2 million gigatons of carbon.
The Wayana and Trio Indigenous communities are the key stakeholders in the SSCC. It is essential that they are empowered to lead the process of zoning, management nd monitoring of the corridor from the groundup—and that in return, they receive a flow of both short- and long-term benefits.
SOUTH SURINAME CONSERVATION CORRIDOR
To that end, CI Suriname is currently assessing the feasibility of conservation agreements, an approach developed by CI’s Conservation Stewards Program that provides a negotiated benefits package to communities in exchange for conservation actions.
© CRISTINA MITTERMEIER
To conserve this critical ecosystem, Conservation International (CI) Suriname engaged with the Trio and Wayana indigenous communities, along with the President of the Republic of Suriname, to establish a 7.2 million-hectare protected area—almost half of the nation’s entire land surface. In March 2015, indigenous leaders signed an Indigenous Declaration for Protection, officially declaring the South Suriname Conservation Corridor (SSCC).