“I call for an urgent investigation into the actions of the Minister of Land Policy,” Rabin Parmessar, a member of parliament, said last week. “It’s the first time in history that a minister of land affairs has been involved in so many allegedly corrupt land allocations.”
He added, “It’s reprehensible that foreigners are eligible for hectares of land, while our own countrymen wait for years for a square meter to do horticulture and agriculture.”
Parmessar told Mongabay he’s frustrated with the lack of transparency from ministry officials, who are supposed to speak to parliament about development plans later this week during budget talks.
Indigenous groups are still in the process of organizing resistance efforts. The Maroon Awareness Platform, an umbrella organization representing afro-descendent groups in Suriname, told Mongabay the government doesn’t communicate with them, which means they are often the last ones to know what’s happening, let alone to mount a response.
The Saamaka community, although not directly impacted by the land included in government mapping obtained by Mongabay, said it’s considering presenting a case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, which takes on issues related to human rights violations in Latin America.
“The world will know the role this government is playing in all of this,” Jabini said. “When they show up to international forums talking about Suriname being the greenest country, everyone will know that is a big lie, because their actions are different from what they’re saying.”
Banner image: The Tapanahoni River in Suriname. Photo courtesy of Delphinidaesy/Flickr.
See related from this reporter:
Suriname preparing to clear Amazon for agriculture, documents suggest
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Activism, agribusiness, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Government, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Protected Areas, Rainforest Agriculture, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Tropical Forests
Latin America, South America, Suriname
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/outcry-over-deforestation-as-surinames-agriculture-plans-come-to-light/
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Publish date : 2024-01-17 03:00:00
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