Why Suriname?
- Suriname has a large area of undisturbed Neotropical Amazonian forest.
The Republic of Suriname, in northern South America, obtained its independence
from the Netherlands in 1975. The second of the three Guianas in size and
population, it has a human population of approximately 377,000 in an area
of 166,000 sq. km., giving it one of the lowest population densities of
any tropical country in the world. 95% of this population is concentrated
in the capital city, Paramaribo, and small towns of the coastal region.
Only about 5% of the population lives in the interior, most of it in small
scattered villages along three of the major rivers. Otherwise, the interior
is uninhabited and covered with undisturbed Neotropical Amazonian forest,
making Suriname one of the largest places anywhere for conservation of
this biome (Schulz et al., 1977). It is a high priority conservation site
because efforts here have excellent prospects for success.
Suriname has a diverse and poorly known flora due to its wide variety
of ecological life zones. Lying between 2-6 N and 54-58 W, Suriname
has a typical tropical climate with a mean daily temperature of about 27
C and annual range of only 2 C. Annual rainfall varies between 1750 and
3000 mm, and a generally high humidity prevails throughout the year. There
are two rainy seasons, a major one from approximately mid-April to mid-August
and a minor one from December to January, and two dry seasons, a major
one from August to November and a minor one from February to April.
- Although small in size, Suriname is rich in wildlife. Its wildlife
includes 674 species of birds, 200 species of mammals, 130 species of reptiles,
99 species of amphibians, and roughly 5,000 species of plants. Furthermore,
Suriname is unusual among tropical countries in its extensive relatively
undistrubed tropical forest cover. The country has one of the highest percentages
of tropical forest cover in the world with nearly 90% of the total area
covered by forest and a rate of destruction under 0.1% annually in the
interior. Indeed, 14,855,000 ha of tropical forest gives Suriname nine
times the forest cover of Costa Rica, slightly more than Ecuador, 75% of
the total forest cover in all of Central America, and more tropical forest
than all but four African countries. Many of the life zones of northern
South America are present in the small area of Suriname. Although Suriname
is only 63,040 sq. mi., approximately 5,000 species of vascular plants
occur there
Suriname has a unique culture. Surinamese culture is unique
and very different from the rest of South America. In addition to the native
Amerindian population (2.6%) and the Bushnegroes (10.3%), which represent
the only intact communities descended from runaway slaves remaining in
the New World, the population includes Creoles (30.8%), Hindustani (37.0),
Javanese (15.3%), Chinese (1.7%), Dutch, and a variety of other small groups
of European origin (2.3%). Ethnobotanically, Suriname is quite significant.
The interior is home to seven different Indian tribes and six Bushnegro
tribes, all of which possess an intimate knowledge of the value of forest
plants as foods, fibers, medicines, and other useful products.