I M PA C T
REPORT

Local and International
achievements for 2022

Table of

CONTENTS

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4
5
6
8
9
10
15

Letter of appreciation from Mr. John Goedschalk

17
22
23
25

Stories – TWTIS

26
27

Developing sustainable nature tourism
opportunities in Suriname

CI’s new Vision & Mission
Friends of Green Suriname
FOGS spendings
Financial overview
30 years CIS defined in our Advocacy work
Two-day ‘Organization and Transformation Timber
Sector’ by the Presidential Taskforce

Wildlife Conservation
Fisheries
Piloting the Climate Smart Forestry
Program

Visits of our international partners toview our community work

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Letter of appreciation from CIS Executive Director Mr. John Goedschalk

Paramaribo, December 2022
To: Our Friends of Green Suriname (FOGS)This is not a goodbye; this is a THANK YOU!

Dear Friend of Green Suriname,Friends never say goodbye, but this is the occasion I would like to take to let you know that after almost
10 years as director of Conservation International Suriname, I will say goodbye to the organization by
December 31st, 2022, to begin a new path in my own climate and conservation trajectory. I will continue
to serve Conservation International Suriname in another role with the same dedication.
For any organization with a strong foundation, such as ours, changes and institutional innovations cannever be a set-back, but instead a huge opportunity.
Once more I would like to thank you FOGS, for supporting the conservation goals and to keep supporting
CI Suriname in our common vision to be the most forested country in the world, with a rich biodiversity
and with happy and prosperous societies.
Our environmental work is not done, and we appreciate your support in the coming years.

Yours sincerely,

John R. Goedschalk***4

OUR VISIONSURINAME IS THE GREENEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLDFOREVER WITH A PROSPEROUS AND HAPPY POPULATIONOUR MISSIONTO PRESERVE SURINAME’S RICH BIODIVERSITY ANDECOSYSTEMS FOR THE WELL BEING OF OUR CURRENT AND
FUTURE GENERATIONS‘‘SURINAME IS THE GREEN JEWEL OF THE WORLD,WHERE YOU CAN WATCH THE EARTH
BREATHE....
- AXEL SCHMIEGELOW ITravel Group5

Friendsof Green Suriname(FOGS) revitalized

In 2023 Conservation International Suriname (CIS) will -more thanever- focus on our Friends of Green Suriname (FOGS)-program tointensify our commitment to develop and execute environmental
and sustainable livelihood programs. You as our ‘Friends of Green
Suriname’ can support the programs that advocate the well-being ofour planet and its people. With your commitment we can bridge thegap between conservation and sustainable development and our
mission to preserve Suriname’s rich biodiversity and ecosystems forthe wellbeing of our current and future generations.
Since 2014, our Friends of Green Suriname contributed in many
ways and has proven to be a great accelerator for the projects of CI
Suriname. Despite the COVID and financial challenges which turned
the world upside down, with the support of FOGS, CIS continued its
work because ‘there is only one planet to save’.

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FOGS spendings

CLIMATE SMART

COMMUNITYFISHERIESFORESTRYCONSERVATION

NATURE TOURISMWILDLIFE

FOGS FUNDING GOAL FY23
FOG
ST
AR
GE

T

FY

8

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Financial Overview
Local companies

AmountTorarica Group of Hotels$ 3,000.00

VSH$ 2,500.00

Gumair

$ 4,059.69

Staatsolie$ 5,000.00

Republic Bank

$ 15,000.00$29,559.69

Companies abroad
Berthling Group$ 5,069.00

Total$ 34,655.69

In kind grands
Telesur/ATVFree broadcasting time on television for CI-projects

Courtyard by Marriott

Spendings to the amount of $5,000

930 years CIS defined in
our Advocacy work
29 December 1992 - 29 December 2022

Celebration of CIS 30 years with stakeholders
and partners
Conservation International Suriname (CIS) has celebrated her 30thbirthday in 2022. Throughout these past years we’ve worked on
different projects, with various stakeholders and communities thatare ready to work with us. We are grateful for the confidence you
have in us to bring our vision closer into reality.
On August 1st we launched our 30th birthday with our partners,
stakeholders, communities, FOGS and our very own CIS team.
Everyone in its own way contributed to the success of our mission.

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The High-Level Policy Exchange Mission to
Gabon.
This year one of the significant milestones was theHigh-Level Policy Exchange Mission to Gabon (WestAfrica) from March 12 – 19, 2022, with a Surinamesedelegation consisting of policy makers and technicalexperts.
The Suriname delegation coordinated and financed
by CIS was led by the Head of Parliament from theWe will join forces with Gabon to exchange informationon their national green development strategy, that has
a minimum impact on the existing forests in the hinterland. This includes exchange of data on forest policy,
land use planning, sustainable forest management,
protected area management, log tracking and control,
phasing out of log exports and forest certification.
The objectives of the mission were as follows:•

nature management and sustainable forest

Republic of Suriname, accompanied by the minister ofmanagement.

Land Policy and Forest Management and the ministerof Regional Development and Sport and their experts

Gain understanding of the Gabon approach on•

Lessons learned from Gabon on phasing out log

on forest policies. These two countries have a lot ofwood for the increase of nationwide economic

similarities, such as a limited population density andbenefit.

abundant natural resources. Gabon has adopted suchmodels in managing and exploiting its natural resources•

supporting policy framework with regards to zerothat it is now one of the more prosperous countries indeforestation in Suriname.

Africa. And that thanks to its vigorous forestry policy.
This created the basis for Suriname’s growing interest in

Establish technical committee/agreement for•successful forestry models of Gabon.

Hands on experience of the success story ofGabon to serve as inspiration for the carbon
potential in Suriname.

The policy of phasing out round wood
export and better management of forests
and nature parks.
With a view to diversifying our economy and strengthening the country’s revenues, a sound ‘no or only
limited raw materials policy’ is a necessary measure.
This includes studying various success models andgaining knowledge to manufacture end products forwood that can be exported with processing facilities inplace, capacity building trainings, as well as legislationthat enables sustainable exploitation of natural areas
with fair Benefit Sharing models for the local communities.

14•

Discuss coordination of HFLD countries.

Since the trip the discussions and programs on phasingout round wood export and implementation ofsustainable forest management and carbon rights has
intensified and the results will be evident within a few
years.

Two-day ‘Organization and Transformation
Timber Sector’ by Presidential Taskforce
On Friday December 2nd and Saturday December 3rd a workshop “Organization and Transformation Wood Sector” washosted in the Royal Torarica Ballroom. The guests were stakeholders from from the private sector, government, local
Indigenous and Tribal communities, and non-governmental organizations. The event was organized by the presidential
task force, which was appointed on September 6th, 2022, with the aim of issuing advice about policies for the Surinamese
timber sector, including the successive reduction of round wood illegal logging and export. Some of the concrete intentions
are to 1) gradually phase out roundwood exports, 2) to combat (illegal) logging and export, 3) to further stimulate sustainable
forest management, and 4) to maximize the income of the state. The taskforce, led by chairman Mr. Pertap Bissumbhar,organized the two day workshop in collaboration with WWF-Guianas and Conservation International Suriname. The agenda
highlighted our local timber sector from several angles. During the 1st day, information was provided about the timber sector
opportunities for Suriname. During the 2nd day, thematic issues were elaborated interactively in smaller groups, after which
the outcomes were presented to the other attendees. At the end, a declaration was issued which the government can use
to formulate policies, to combat illegality and transform a policy of highly regulated tolerance of a practice into correctness.

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THE LAND IS SACRED;
it belongs to the countless numbers who are
dead, the few who are living and the multitudeof people yet to be born
- Penan, Sarawak -16

Stories – TWTIS
Establishing a TRIO and Wayana Code of Conduct book
In April 2020 the TWTIS team started to bring awareness to the indigenous communities on land rights.
The European Union funded the project, and it has been executed with 3 outputs:
1st

Execute a road Impact assessment with the
Trio and Wayana Community members

2nd

Host a Train the Trainer workshop for the Trioand Wayana Community

3rd

Develop a Trio and Wayana Code of Conduct
handbook

The Trio and Wayana ‘Code of Conduct Handbook’ isready and will be presented to the stakeholders andhigh-level policy makers on January 12th, 2023, during
a special ceremony.

Supporting Indigenous woman leadership trough fellowship program

From April 25 – 29, 2022, the first Indigenous Women Fellowship Regional Exchange was held in Ecuador.
Twenty-seven Indigenous women from Columbia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana Brazil, and Suriname came together toexchange their experience as ‘women fellows’ within our ‘Future Forest-Amazona Verde’ project. It was also the first time
for many of these inspiring women to experience an international exchange.
For Suriname, fellow Sharmaine Artist participated accompanied by Shaniel Gena, the technical coordinator for the CI’s
South Suriname program. During the exchange, topics on gender equality were discussed and it became clear thatIndigenous women also do not get the same opportunities as men, especially not in decision making processes. It would
be a great opportunity for other indigenous women to have this experience through a yearly ‘get together’, fellow
Sharmaine stated.
Her fellowship program to set-up a hydroponics system in her village, Powakka, was completed in July 2022. For the 2ndedition of the ‘woman fellowship program’ two new woman fellows have been selected in April 2022 and will receive
guidance from the previous fellow, Ms. Sharmaine Artist, who will be their mentor.

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Strengthening indigenous communities
For CIS, developing sustainable livelihoods in these Indigenous communities,
goes hand in hand with capacity building, so they can develop ownership of
their living areas, their forests and all the resources it provides. In 2022 thefollowing trainings have been hosted within the communities for the community members:•

MAPEO training: July 2nd – 6th, 2022, Alalapadu
This training was aimed at the Monitoring team in Alalapadu that keep
track on the reproduction and inventory of the Tuhka Trees and thehunting activities in the village; Machine Operations & Maintenance:
July 13th – 15th, Paramaribo
Villagers of Alalapadu visited the city to take part in a machine operating
training hosted by Farmers choice. This allows the workers of the Tuhka
enterprise to manage the company machines more effectively.

•

The ‘on the job training’ for the sustainable harvest of ornamental
fish: August 15th- 22nd, 2022, Tepu was to learn how to catch and takecare of the fish, how to store, pack and transport the fish in a responsible
manner to Paramaribo.

•

Capacity Building in managing skills for Stichting Tuhka: August
27th – September 7th, 2022, Alalapadu to strengthen the employees
in managing the stock, operational processes, lifecycle of the process,Inventory, and financial management.

In the upcoming year TWTIS will continue supporting the Indigenous people
trough certain capacity building trainings in the areas.

Letter of Intention with Tepu
As part of our intensive engagement processes, we have signed a Letter ofIntention with Tepu in November 2022. This as a preliminary step for theConservation Agreement, set to be signed in 2023) to protect 365.000 ha ofpristine forest as a prerequisite for the sustainable Ornamental Fisheries
project.

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WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
Suriname is known as one of the major global source
countries for parrots, macaws, toucans, songbirds,
snakes, frogs, toads, primates and so much more.
Most of the trade is legal, as Suriname maintains highexport quota compared to any other country in the world,
except for Guyana, which is also known for its highwildlife export quota. But as has been proven for
decades, where hunting and legal wildlife trade is taking
place, illegal trade is also happening, especially when
considering the incredible value of wildlife trade globally.
We have executed wildlife trade assessments in three
South Suriname Indigenous villages, Kwamalasamutu,
Amatopo and Tepu and are working on piloting wildlife
awareness in these, our long-term goal is to implement
these activities in all villages where CIS is working.
The awareness sessions are focused on the role ofwildlife and ecosystems, legislation, sustainable hunting,and the impact of wildlife trade. We have also started
with wildlife trade assessments in these three villages aswell as developing lesson plans to be piloted in the threevillages as well.
Additionally, we have been asked to help recover theoverharvested wildlife populations aroundKwamalasamutu and we are currently preparing themethodologies and will discuss this with the Granman
and hunters, to be piloted in 2023.

Go Wild for Wildlife

On November 15th, 2021, we delivered a training on theidentification of felid parts targeting officials from
Paramaribo, the Nature Conservation Division, the Public
Prosecution, Police and Customs, who are active areas

The launch for the GO
WILD FOR WILDLIFE
campaign was hosted
on December 14th,
2022, in the Back Lot
Cinemas.
The campaign is
supported by local
role models and highly
appreciated public
figures who arefocused on wildlife
issues and sustainability.
Eight themes have beenchosen, focusing on illegal trade in Jaguars and otherrelevant creatures of our forests that are endangered.

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Wild Felid (cats) Workshop and National
Jaguar Action Plan

for felid trafficking in Suriname. The training covered
relevant wildlife legislation, pathways to report and deal
with trafficking cases and morphology of felid parts andhow to recognize them. We used excerpts from the felid
ID guide as visual aids during the training as well as partsof the felines (skin, teeth, paws) that Paramaribo Zoo hadlent to us for this workshop. We disseminated the copiesof the Felid Identification Guide for Suriname to ourstakeholders and all institutions that were represented at
the workshop, and additionally to the relevant NGOs in
Suriname. We are also in the final stages of the development of the National Jaguar Action Plan for Suriname,co-developed by our stakeholders with content that is
related to jaguars. This action plan will hugely help better
protect the currently, still healthy populations of jaguars
in Suriname.

Fisheries
In 2022 CI Suriname continued its work on environmental
improvements with the artisanal fishing sector. Coastal
community-based fisheries play a key role in terms of foodsecurity, employment, and poverty eradication. Despite theirimportance, coastal community-based fisheries have been
marginalized or ignored in national and international policies.
In consequence, there is inadequate financial, institutional,
and scientific support to ensure their good governance andlong-term sustainability.
CI’s unique approach to fisheries improvement is theCommunity Fishery Improvement Project (CFIP) model – that
innovates on the traditional top-down and environmentally
focused model to prioritize fishery- and community-led
processes based on the needs and priorities of the communities, the integration of triple impact improvements (social,economic, and environmental), and a human rights-based
approach through building capacity of rights holders.
The CFIP model is proven, scalable and evidence based– relying on a rigorously developed interdisciplinary assessment methodology informed by best available science andreflecting the diversity and reality of global coastal fisheries.
We are now engaged in driving social and economic improvements through the application of the Social Responsibility Assessment (SRA) Tool and the co-development of asocio-economic improvement plan - a key part of the CFIP
methodology.

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Climate Smart Forestry
Klimaatvriendelijke Bosbouw“Turning loggers
into conservationists”
24Piloting of the Climate Smart Forestry
Program from 2021 on

The Foundation for Forest Management and Forest

These actions will result in improving and maintaining

Supervison (Stichting Bosbeheer en Bostoezicht-SBB),

forest health, diversity and promote the productivity of

CIS and its partners: government institutions, industry,

timber harvesting. With the MOU we also aim tocommunities, and other national and international

collaborate in developing a joint Action Plan for phasing

stakeholders will focus with the CSF project on building

out round wood.

(further) technical capacities of the local population andmonitoring these capacities with the communities andnational institutes (such as SBB, NIMOS, etc.). The firstpilot covers approximately 200,000 ha in the selectedareas and after evaluation will then go nationwide. The
launch of the CSF project took place on August 27,
2021, where the community of Bigi Poika and the private
concessionaire signed the agreement for participating inthis climate friendly forestry program, while on November
3, 2021, at the conclusion of a 3-day Budget Estimation
Workshop, the signing with stakeholders for implementation of climate-friendly forestry in their community forest
took place.

MOU signing for better CSF support

Capacity building workshops for carbon
crediting and certification.
Carbon rights experts from the Netherlands wererecruited as consultants to prepare the Project
Development Document (PDD) for the Climate Smart
Forestry Program in Suriname. At the start of this activity,
a 3-day workshop was organized from 17 – 19 May 2022,with CI Suriname, SBB and other stakeholders. During thisevent, information was provided about the possibilities of
our Surinamese forest to be used to generate carbon
certificates as a way of translating the CO² that is captured
in forests and trees into certified carbon credits to tradeon the international market.

On August 24th an MOU was signed between CIS and
the Association for Domestic Timber Producers (BHP).
The aim of the MOU is to strengthen the cooperation
between the parties, which will result in support forsustainable and Climate-friendly forestry techniques,create support among the government, the private
concessionaires and the communities for better planningand improved timber harvesting techniques.

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DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE NATURE TOURISMOPPORTUNITIES FOR SURINAME
In 2022, after two years (as the first FOGS ‘get together’On the event on May 2nd in Courtyard by Marriot theafter Covid), we had a special international FOGS mem-focus was set on promoting nature tourism. The minister

ber, the CEO of a Germany based tour organizationof TCT, special speakers and our foreign guest, Mr. Axel

ITRAVEL, Mr. Axel Schmiegelow. He has been traveling

Schmiegelow, expressed their excitement about ourthrough the interior of Suriname and has discovered

pristine forest. They shared the diverse opportunities

our ‘green jewel’: our pristine Amazone. In an emotional

for nationals and people abroad to experience a piecespeech he pleaded to keep our forest intact to attractof Suriname. Itravel will promote Suriname on theirmore high-end visitors and promote sustainable naturebooking engine page.

tourism.

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Visit’s of our international partners toview our community work

In appreciating of our work, supported by local FOGS

the maroon organizations that want to generate apartners, our German Partner, Oro Verde visited thesustainable income. With this program we want toproject in South Suriname in November 2022, to watch

increase the feeling of empowerment, self-worth andthe progress on the Tepu ornamental fisheries project,create independence and other opportunities, especiallywhich they also support. They were able to see that thisfor women in this area. Women must also be involved inproject is feasible and sustainable. Also ambassadors

community-based conservation and protection of natureand high officials of the EU program, visited the Browns-

to help keep it for future generations.

weg to get more insights on the efforts and activities of27