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11 December 2020 Suriname
Taking part in the storytelling training in June 2020 run by RNTC Media Training Centre as part of the GLA programme, inspired us to share research-based information from Tropenbos Suriname projects. This enables us to connect with our audience on a more personal level. We decided on sharing the story of agricultural development in Pikin Slee village, in the Upper Suriname River area, to demonstrate the benefits of agriculture to other villages in the region and promote the involvement of youth. This story also motivates the other villages of the potential benefits for their communities if they adapt new farming techniques.
02 September 2020 Suriname
With a forest cover of 93%, Suriname is the most forested country on the globe. Its forests are home to five Indigenous Peoples, who have been living there since long before the country became occupied by Europeans. Next to the Indigenous Peoples, Suriname’s forests are populated by Maroon communities who mostly live along the rivers. They are descendants of enslaved Africans who fled the colonial Dutch plantations and established independent communities deep in the interior rainforests, where they could not be found. Today, there are a total of six Maroon tribes, spread over hundreds of villages, making up almost 14% of the population. Both the Indigenous and Maroon communities depend on the forest for their food, medicines and construction material. Also, they are increasingly involved in commercial timber extraction.
30 June 2020 Suriname
In a Saamaka Maroon village on the Upper Suriname River, the owners of a new agricultural cooperative learn that higher agricultural yields are possible with forest-saving agricultural methods. The idea is to scale up this good agricultural practice to more villages in the interior of Suriname.