[acn-l] [nia-net] BIOD: Suriname Forest Conservation (fwd)

peter.unmack at ASU.Edu
Wed, 24 Jun 1998 07:33:25 -0700 (MST)

Of interest to folks hopefully.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 17:31:39 +0900
From: James Albert <albert at nms.ac.jp>
To: nia-net at inpa.gov.br
Subject: [nia-net] BIOD: Suriname Forest Conservation

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
In a bold move, the government of Suriname has decided to establish a
protected nature reserve of some 1.6 million hectares, which comprises
about one tenth of the country. This news is particularly welcome in the
aftermath of the fires that raged in neighboring Roraima, Brazil, in March
earlier this year. Estimates of the area burnt in those fires range from
16 to 24 percent of entire state. This is approximately 30,000 square
kilometers of savannah and 6,500 of forests or deforested area in a state
covering 230,000 square kilometers. The following article was filed by
Reuters about a week ago. JSA

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Title: Tenth of Suriname to be off-limits to loggers
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1998, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: June 17, 1998

NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Surinam said on Wednesday it would turn
a vast tract of Amazon rain forest into a nature preserve, protecting
the virgin jungle from international logging firms.

The Central Surinam Wilderness Nature Reserve will protect more than
6,000 square miles (1.6 million hectares) of rain forest, an area
bigger than the U.S. state of Connecticut and almost 10 percent of the
former Dutch colony's territory.

Surinamese officials made the announcement at a news conference
presided over by actor Harrison Ford, a member of the board of
Conservation International, which secured funding to manage the
preserve.

"This is a revolutionary move on the part of Suriname's leaders,"
Conservation International President Russell Mittermeier said.

"(The Surinamese) are breaking away from traditional and usually
ecologically devastating patterns of economic development that exploit
natural resources," he said.

Malaysian and Indonesian logging companies had been bidding to exploit
the virgin forest, one of the few in the world still totally
uninhabited.

Only about 40 percent of the tropical forest that existed in the world
at the start of the century still stands. An even smaller percentage
has survived in pristine condition, mainly in the upper Amazon,
southern Venezuela, the Guianas, New Guinea and Africa's Congo basin.

Conservation International secured private funding to establish a $1
million trust to cover management costs of the newly protected area.
It will help Surinam develop a strategy for conservation based on
bioprospecting, nontimber forest products, agroforestry and
ecotourism.

"Suriname has established itself as a world leader in biodiversity
conservation," Peter Seligmann, chairman of the environmental
organisation, said. "Other nations can look to Surinam as an example,"
he said.

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This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission from the
source for reprinting. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest
Conservation Archives at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked by Ecological Enterprises, grbarry at students.wisc.edu

James Albert
Nippon Medical School