Geography of Suriname

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File:Suriname geology NL annot.svg
Topographic map of Suriname and EEZ (exclusive economic zone).

Suriname is located in the northern part of South America and is part of Caribbean South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana. It is mostly covered by tropical rainforest, containing a great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, are increasingly threatened by new development. There is a relatively small population, most of which live along the coast.

There are currently two unresolved border disputes that affect the geography of Suriname, namely the Tigri Area in the southwestern region near Guyana and also the Marouini/Litani region with French Guiana in the southeast.

Location

Geographic coordinates: 4°00′N 56°00′W / 4.000°N 56.000°W / 4.000; -56.000

Continent: South America

Area

Total: 163,820 square kilometers (63,250 sq mi)
Land: 156,000 square kilometers (60,000 sq mi)
Water: 7,820 square kilometers (3,020 sq mi)

Area - comparative: See order of magnitude 1 E+11 m². Slightly larger than Tunisia.

Land boundaries

Main article: Borders of Suriname
File:Suriname1991 Karte umstrittene Gebiete.jpg
Suriname with the disputed areas, including the Tigri Area controlled by Guyana and southeastern area controlled by French Guiana.
File:Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-Indië-Surinam north-Benj004ency01ill stitched.jpg
Suriname (circa 1914) in the Encyclopedia of the Dutch West Indies, by Surinamese cartographer Herman Benjamins and Dutch ethnographer Johannes Snelleman.

Total: 1,703 kilometers (1,058 mi)

Border countries:

Coastline: 386 kilometers (240 mi)

Maritime claims

Exclusive economic zone: 127,772 km2 (49,333 sq mi) and 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi)

Territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)

Climate and climate change

Further information: Climate change in Suriname

Suriname has a tropical rainforest climate and a tropical monsoon climate, with hot humid conditions year-round.[1]

Climate change in both Suriname and the wider world is leading to hotter temperatures and more extreme weather. As a fairly poor country, its contributions to global climate change have been limited. Suriname has a large forest cover, the country has been running a carbon negative economy since 2014.[2] Hotter temperatures[3] and changes in precipitation trends[4] are predicted because of climate change.

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Terrain

Most of the country is made up of rolling hills, but there is a narrow coastal plain that has swampy terrain.[5]

A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 781 km² of tidal flats in Suriname, making it the 34th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.[6]

Elevation extremes

Lowest point: Unnamed location in the coastal plain - 2 meters (6.6 ft) below Sea Level.
Highest point: Juliana Top - 1,230 meters (4,040 ft)[7]

Natural resources

Timber, hydropower, fish, forests, hydroelectric potential, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite and gold. Small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum and iron ore. It also has sizeable oil.[7]

Water

The country has one large reservoir, the Brokopondo Reservoir. Several rivers run through it, including the Suriname River, Nickerie River and Maroni or Marowijne River.

Land use

(2018 Estimates)

Arable land: 0.4%
Permanent crops: 0.0%
permanent pasture: 0.1%
forest: 94.6%
Other: 4.9%

Irrigated land

510 square kilometers (200 sq mi) (2003)

Natural hazards

Tropical Showers, no hurricanes.[citation needed]

Environment

File:Share Of Forest Area In Total Land Area, Top Countries (2021).svg
Share of forest area in total land area, top countries (2021). Suriname has the highest percentage of forest cover in the world.

Current issues

Deforestation is a real problem as timber is cut for export. There is also a lot of pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities.

Climate change

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International agreements

Suriname has agreed to the following agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping--London Convention, Marine Dumping--London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Paris Accords Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling[8]

Deforestation

Tree cover extent and loss

Global Forest Watch publishes annual estimates of tree cover loss and 2000 tree cover extent derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery in the Global Forest Change dataset.[9][10][11][12] In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause.[13]

For Suriname, country statistics report cumulative tree cover loss of 286,262 ha (2,862.62 km2) from 2001 to 2024 (about 2.1% of its 2000 tree cover area).[9] For tree cover density greater than 30%, country statistics report a 2000 tree cover extent of 13,949,796 ha (139,497.96 km2).[9] The charts and table below display this data. In simple terms, the annual loss number is the area where tree cover disappeared in that year, and the extent number shows what remains of the 2000 tree cover baseline after subtracting cumulative loss. Forest regrowth is not included in the dataset.[9][13]

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REDD+ reference levels and monitoring

Under the UNFCCC REDD+ framework, Suriname has submitted three national reference-level packages. On the UNFCCC REDD+ Web Platform, the country's 2018 and 2021 packages are listed as having assessed reference levels, while a 2024 package is listed as under technical assessment. All three list a national strategy and safeguards information; a national forest monitoring system is listed as reported for the 2018 and 2021 packages but as "not reported" for the 2024 package.[14]

The first assessed forest reference emission level (FREL), submitted in 2018, covered reducing emissions from deforestation and reducing emissions from forest degradation at national scale. Using historical data for 2000-2015, the modified and assessed FREL set annual benchmark values for 2016-2020 of 14,627,465, 15,591,284, 16,555,103, 17,518,922 and 18,482,741 t CO2 eq per year.[15] The technical assessment states that it included above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass and deadwood, excluded litter and soil organic carbon, and reported CO2 together with CH4 and N2O emissions from deforestation.[15]

A second national FREL, technically assessed in 2022, again covered deforestation and forest degradation. Using historical data for 2000-2019, the modified and assessed FREL set annual benchmark values for 2020-2024 of 14,008,882, 14,612,231, 15,215,572, 15,818,913 and 16,422,255 t CO2 eq per year.[16] The technical assessment states that it again included above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass and deadwood, excluded litter and soil organic carbon, and reported gross CO2 emissions together with CH4 and N2O emissions from forest fires.[16]

Extreme points

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This residual measure does not include forest regrowth.

References

  1. ↑ Sánchez-Dávila, Gabriel (15 Sep 2022). "Clasificación climática de Sudamérica". ArcGIS StoryMaps (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  2. ↑ "Suriname's climate promise, for a sustainable future". UN News. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  3. ↑ "Historical Climate Data Suriname". climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org. Archived from the original on 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  4. ↑ "Climate Data Projects Suriname". climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org. Archived from the original on 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  5. ↑ "Country profile: Suriname". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2026-04-12.
  6. ↑ Murray, N.J.; Phinn, S.R.; DeWitt, M.; Ferrari, R.; Johnston, R.; Lyons, M.B.; Clinton, N.; Thau, D.; Fuller, R.A. (2019). "The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats". Nature. 565 (7738): 222–225. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8. PMID 30568300. S2CID 256767470 Check |s2cid= value (help).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 CIA World Facebook 2010 (epublication). New York, New York: Central Intelligence Agency. May 2009. p. 1617. ISBN 9781602397279.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ↑ "Suriname". 22 May 2024. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "Suriname Deforestation Rates & Statistics". Global Forest Watch.
  10. ↑ Hansen, Matthew C.; Potapov, Peter V.; Moore, Rebecca; et al. (2013). "High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change". Science. 342 (6160): 850–853. doi:10.1126/science.1244693.
  11. ↑ "Tree cover loss". Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal.
  12. ↑ "Tree cover (2000)". Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "How much forest was lost in 2023?". Global Forest Review.
  14. ↑ "Suriname (SUR) - Submissions provided by Country". REDD+ Web Platform. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Report of the technical assessment of the proposed forest reference emission level of Suriname submitted in 2018 (PDF) (Report). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 23 November 2018. FCCC/TAR/2018/SUR.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Report on the technical assessment of the proposed forest reference emission level of Suriname submitted in 2021 (PDF) (Report). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 3 June 2022. FCCC/TAR/2021/SUR.

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