Climate change in Suriname is leading to warmer temperatures and more

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

events in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. As a relatively poor country, its contributions to global

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

have been limited. Because of the large

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...

, the country has been running a

carbon negative Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is a process in which carbon dioxide () is removed from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities and durably stored in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.IPCC, 2021:Annex VII: Glossar ...

economy since 2014. Suriname was the second country to update its

Nationally Determined Contributions The nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are commitments that countries make to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of climate change mitigation. These commitments include the necessary policies and measures for achieving the glob ...

in 2020.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Suriname has claimed a net-negative carbon economy since at least 2014. This is in large part because dense forests cover over 93% of the country. Most of the

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

is still in pristine condition, however it is being threatened by gold mining and logging companies. Agriculture contributes 40% of the country's emissions.

Petroleum industry

Petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

exports are an important part of the

economy of Suriname The economy of Suriname was largely dependent upon the exports of aluminium oxide and small amounts of aluminium produced from bauxite mined in the country. However, after the departure of Alcoa, the economy depended on the exports of crude oil ...

, much of which is controlled by the state owned

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname Staatsolie, officially Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname (), is a Surinamese oil and gold company which was established to execute the oil policy which includes exploration, drilling and processing oil. In 2014 Staatsolie expanded its business to ...

. As of January 2020, an American corporation, Apache Corporation, was drilling wells in

Maka Central Maka or MAKA may refer to: * Funhouse (Makana "Maka" Akana), a Marvel Comics supervillain * Maká, a Native American people in Paraguay ** Maká language, spoken by the Maká * Maka (satrapy), a province of the Achaemenid Empire * Maka, Biffe ...

Impacts on the natural environment

Temperature and weather changes

According to the World Bank, temperatures have already increased across the country, with a significant increase in hot weather. Though precipitation has not shown any significant trend changes, projections suggest significant changes in different parts of the country.

Sea level rise

90% of Suriname's human activity is on the Northern coast, which is particularly vulnerable to

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

and salt water intrusion.

Impacts on people

Economic impacts

Agriculture

Though agriculture is a decreasing part of the total economy of the country, accounting for 9% of GDP in 2012, it is the third largest part of the Surinamese economy employing 15% of the population in 2009. Changing weather and flood events are expect to have significant negative effects on agriculture in the country. 49% of the economic losses of May 2006 floods in Suriname were agricultural.

Health impacts

The greatest risk Suriname faces is the flooding of the rivers. The population is concentrated around major rivers like the

, Commewijne, and

Marowijne River The Maroni () or Marowijne (; ) is a river in South America that forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname. Course The Maroni runs through the Guianan moist forests ecoregion. It originates in the Tumuk Humak Mountains and forms ...

in an area a few meters above sea level. In 2006 and 2015, there were majors floods even resulting in deaths.

Mitigation and adaptation

Policies and legislation

The Surinamese government was proactive about updating its

statement in 2020, second only behind the Climate change in the Marshall Islands. The major commitments included maintenance of forests as a

carbon sink A carbon sink is a natural or artificial carbon sequestration process that "removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere". These sinks form an important part of the natural carbon cycle. An overar ...

, 35%

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

by 2030, and sustainable farming and transportation investments.

References

{{Climate change regions, state=expanded

Environment of Suriname