Technical and Administrative Monitoring Project Associate

Background

Office/Unit/Project Description

The Republic of Suriname lies on the North-Eastern Atlantic coast of South America, bordering with Guyana to the West, French Guyana to the East, and Brazil to the South. It has an area of 163,820 km2 and a population of just under 600,000. With more than 15.2 million ha of forest cover (93% of its total area) based on data from 2019(Forestry sector report 2019) , Suriname is one of the most forested countries in the world. Historical annual rates of deforestation below 0.1% have allowed the country to be classified as a High Forest cover, Low Deforestation rate (HFLD) country. Forests landscapes provide a multitude of environmental and social benefits, including income and food security for local communities, national income from logging and mining, and global environmental benefits such as climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation. Suriname ́s forests act as a carbon sink, making it a carbon-negative country (net carbon capture per capita of 3.3 tons). In addition, Surinamese forests provide a variety of ecological goods, including, for example: timber, game, plant material for making household items, firewood, oil from palm fruits, medicinal plants, liana and leaves as thatching material, and sand and gravel for construction purposes, as well as maintaining key ecological services, such as water protection, soil quality and climate regulation.

Suriname’s forests are part of the Amazon biome. At the regional level, Suriname is located within two of WWF's Global 200 eco-regions, which are considered significant for the conservation of global biodiversity and where continuous forest remains intact (Guyana moist forests and Guyana Highlands moist forests). Surinamese forests host significant levels of biodiversity, which can be attributed not only to this significant forest cover, but also to the large variety of habitats, temperatures, and relatively low population pressures to date. The National