Suriname, the most densely forested country in the world, has attracted the interest of huge Southeast Asian logging companies. The country's lax forestry regulations put the rainforest-and the indigenous groups that live in it-at extreme risk. Flying low outside Sibu, an old logging town on the is- land of Borneo near the Philippines, the devastation of the once lush rainforests is unmistak- able. Hundreds of logging roads stretch like dirt-brown capillaries through the forests as far as the eye can see, and only "dead zones" re- main in areas where giant stands of timber have been extracted. Sibu sits at the mouth of the Rajang River, an immense watershed whose waters are choked with thou- sands of logs floated down from lumber camps deep in the interior. The tributaries which feed the Rajang River are contaminated by soil erosion, and are slick with the glow of diesel oil which seeps from the bulldozers of nearby logging camps. Fish and other wildlife have been wiped out by the uncontrolled logging, threatening the livelihood of local indigenous groups that have made the rainforest their home for centuries. As logging supplies in Southeast Asia dry up and governments in the region impose harsher regulations and even log-export bans, Southeast Asian logging companies have been forced to seek out new sources of fresh timber. Suriname, the most densely forested country in the world, has become their latest ob- ject of desire. The companies have asked Suriname's government to grant a total of nearly 12 million acres in timber concessions--a third of the country's total land area. Suriname's impoverished gov- ernment is mulling over the foreign logging proposals. Because the concessions are so large, they have been submitted to the country's 51- member parliament for approval. Suriname's dilemma stems from the fact that as a small nation with huge economic problems, the log- ging proposals seem to be an ap- Doug Tsuruoka is New York bureau chief of Asia Times, a newspaper based in Bangkok, Thailand. The livelihoods of the 45,000 Maroons who inhabit Suriname's rainforest are threat- ened by Southeast Asian loggers. pealing and quick way to bring in much-needed foreign investment. The Southeast Asian timber pro- jects-with a total investment value of over $300 million-would provide ready cash for Suriname's hard-pressed economy. The risks, however, to the country's vast rain- forests and the human settlements that they support are great. Suriname, a country about the size of Nicaragua with a population of 400,000, gained its independence from the Netherlands 20 years ago. Democratic rule was established in 1992 after nearly two decades of chaos and military coups. Three years ago, dissident Maroons ended an armed insurrection against the government under a peace treaty brokered by the Organization of American States (OAS). The local economy is marked by corruption, a thriving black market, high unemployment, and chronic shortages of foreign currency. Inflation in 1994 was estimated at 642%. The country's historic obses- sion with resource-driven develop- ment has discouraged capital for- mation and the rise of value-added industries such as manufacturing. Suriname-the former Dutch Guiana-is heavily dependent on raw-material exports-bauxite, for example, accounts for 70% of the country's export earnings. As those bauxite deposits become depleted, the most obvious natural resource for Suriname to tap is its huge Amazonian rainforests which blan- ket 80% of the national territory. Malaysian and Indonesian log- gers have formed three separate joint ventures in Suriname: Berjaya Timber Industries Suriname N.V., headed by Malaysian gambling ty- coon Vincent Tan Chee Yioun; N.V. MUSA Indo-Suriname, a private Indonesian logging concern; and the Indonesian Suri-Atlantic. While the loggers from Southeast Asia are clearly the dominant players, a dozen other foreign firms-includ- ing two from South Korea and two from China-have also recently in- dicated interest in or formally ap- plied for timber concessions in Suriname. The government is offering gen- erous contract terms to the foreign loggers. The concessions run for 25 years, and are renewable for an- other 25. Tax breaks will result in aggregate annual savings of $26 million over the life of the con- tracts. If approved, the new log- ging sites would total about 143% more in area than the country's ex- isting 150 forestry concessions. The concessions would also swell Suriname's total round-log pro- duction by 15 to 20 times and mul- tiply timber exports by 300 to 350 times. The groundwork for the Southeast Asian loggers' foray into South America was laid in 1993 when Suriname and Indonesia ex- changed investment and economic missions. These visits were under- pinned by Indonesia and Suri- name's historic links as former Dutch colonies. In addition, given Suriname's sizeable Indonesian, Indian and Chinese communities, forging business links with the mostly Indonesian and ethnic- Chinese loggers from Southeast Asia was relatively easy. Suriname isn't the only location being eyed by Malaysian and Indonesian loggers. They are also applying for 3 million acres in new forestry concessions offered by the Venezuelan government, and bid- ding for another $100 million in timber rights in neighboring Guyana. he reason for Southeast Asian interest in South America's northern rim is simple: the timber supply is abun- dant and relatively unexploited, and the cost cheap. Suriname abounds in choice hardwoods known locally as "Purple Heart" and "Green Heart," as well as several types of mahogany. Taxes on timber exports from Suriname are very low, amounting to just 5% of base value plus transportation costs-less than half the current world rate. The Southeast Asian firms would also pay only about three dollars per acre annually for concession rights, whereas comparable concessions in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, for in- stance, would be ten times higher. All these factors would allow the Southeast Asian companies to amass vast windfall profits. Most of the timber shipped from the new concessions would be des- tined for major wood-consuming markets like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China, where demand for raw timber and plywood is high. Supplying these markets has be- come difficult in recent years both because of shrinking forest reserves in the Asia-Pacific region and new government logging regulations that have been adopted or are being considered in such prime logging countries as Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. "It is billion-dollar logging com- panies from Indonesia and Malaysia which have contributed to the exhaustion of timber stocks in VOL XXIX, No 3 Nov/DEC 1995 7UPDATE / SURINAME A tree stump in Suriname. Uncontrolled tree-cutting would endanger the rainforest's rich biodiversity. Asia," says Dr. Nigel Sizer, author of "Backs to the Wall in Suriname," a World Resources Institute (WRI) report published this April on the dangers of growing Southeast Asian timber interests in Suriname. "They now seem to be looking to the pristine rainforests of South America to maintain their supplies and market share, and to diversify their investments with their tremen- dous capital base." Suriname is also an attractive place for Southeast Asian timber barons to pursue their logging ac- tivities because of relatively lax forestry regulations. In Malaysia, fines and jail terms for illegal log- gers were increased in late 1992, while in Indonesia forestry officials have revoked concession permits for a number of loggers. In Suriname, by comparison, the im- poverished Forestry Service-- presently made up of two profes- sionals, one four-wheel drive vehi- cle, and two outboard-driven ca- noes-cannot adequately police the almost 60,000 square miles of forests. The Southeast Asian timber com- panies are notorious for their dev- astating logging methods, which routinely involve wiping out whole sections of forest with little regard for official rules governing mini- mum tree-girth, species selection, or phased cutting techniques that would allow new trees to grow. This logging method causes irre- versible damage to water and natur- al-food supplies by destroying the tree-cover on which local ecosys- tems depend. In Southeast Asia, logging's in- vasion of remote jungle hinter- lands has undermined indigenous cultures by disrupting native agri- culture and introducing a cash economy. In Sarawak, Malaysia, violent clashes have erupted be- tween loggers and the Penan in- digenous group, who have been protesting the destruction of their food and water supplies. Environ- mentalists and human rights advo- cates fear that these same loggers will wreak similar havoc in Suriname if their massive conces- sions are approved. For one thing, the concessions will land on top of tens of thou- sands of small farmers and indige- nous peoples including Caribs and Maroons. The country's 45,000 Maroons-descendents of eigh- teenth-century rebel slaves-are subsistence farmers who have had little contact with the country's more cosmopolitan coast. Five other indigenous groups who rely heavily on hunting and gathering also live in the general area of the concessions. "The impact would be disastrous," says E. Stanley Rensche of the non-governmental human rights organization Moiwana 86, based in Paramaribo. "If you look at the map, the living conditions of the indigenous and tribal people will be tremendously disrupted." The concessions will likely undermine indigenous land rights since legal ownership of cultivated land is not well-established by the courts. This, in turn, could trigger severe conflicts. "The Maroons do not have statutory title to their land," says Gary Brana-Shute, a George Washington University an- thropologist who has carried out re- search in Suriname over the past two decades. "Increasingly, it will become clear that their patrimony is being cut down and carried away." The arrival of the big logging companies is also sure to increase contact with what Brana-Shute calls "the Sodom and Gomorrah of coastal populations." "Consumerism has already start- ed in Maroon society," says Brana- Shute. "It is rending their religion. The council of elders no longer has sway over the young, and people no longer exchange services." Uncontrolled tree-felling in Suriname would endanger native flora and fauna as well. The coun- try's rainforests are home to 674 species of birds, 200 mammal species, 130 reptile species, and 4,500 species of plants. These forests are not only important regu- lators of the earth's climate, but also reservoirs of genetic material which are critical to medical science. In his 1990 book, Rainforest Politics, Ecological Destruction in South- east Asia, Philip Hurst estimates that 40% of all prescribed drugs in the United States are based on for- 8 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 0 0 C NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 8UPDATE / SURINAME mulas found in rainforest plants. Evidence is also growing that such jungle areas will yield important weapons in the the fight against AIDS and other diseases. After a feverish campaign by environmentalists and hu- man rights activists this spring, Surinamese politicians tem- porarily placed the Malaysian and Indonesian logging concessions on hold, pending a review of more su- tainable development plans. Some officials, leery of the Southeast Asian bids, welcomed the WRI re- port, which was distributed to Suriname's parliament. "It is very important for us to make a good en- vironmental study," says Franco Demon, Suriname's minister of nat- ural resources, "because we don't want to destroy our forests-we want to use them in a sustainable way." Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is heading an effort to delay the signing of new forestry conces- sions for at least three years. In re- turn, Iglesias promises to inject about $5 million annually into Suriname's ailing economy. The cash would be used to train forestry officers, help build the country's social institutions, and develop commercial alternatives to logging such as eco-tourism. The Southeast Asian loggers, however, enjoy the backing of pow- erful ruling circles in Suriname. Allegations of bribery and other shady dealings are rampant, and many observers fear the conces- sions will win parliamentary ap- proval by year's end. Some Southeast Asian timber companies have in fact already been accused of improprieties while operating in Suriname. Indonesian-owned MUSA, which currently manages a 300,000-acre concession, has been criticized in the Surinamese press for negotiat- ing contracts on the side with local community leaders to buy timber from communal lands at very low prices. Suriname's parliament has created a special commission to look into the charges against MUSA. Nigel Sizer, the author of the WRI report, considers the IDB pro- posal of international assistance the most environmentally sound option for Suriname. "Instead of opening up enormous new concessions to foreign investors," he says, "Suriname could use international assistance to avoid trading in its forest assets for quick cash and last- ing disaster." That aid could be used to build up Suriname's 150 ex- isting forestry concessions, which are owned by local businessmen and have the advantage of being closer to coastal timber centers. This would obviate the extensive and environmentally damaging roadwork in the interior which would be necessary if the Southeast Asian concessions were approved. The international assistance could also be mobilized to overhaul the way that Suriname administers and enforces its forestry laws and to in- stitute farming-assistance programs for isolated communities like the Maroons. For now, the Surinamese govern- ment is sorely tempted by the siren's song of the Southeast Asian loggers. While their offers may sound appealing as a way to boost the country's sagging economy, they inevitably auger social and ecological disaster.
