The final report of a study on forest financing mechanisms¹ in Suriname has been completed and been presented to the President of the Republic of Suriname and the Minister of Physical Planning, Land and Forest Management. This study was commissioned by TBI Suriname at the request of the Presidential Task Force for the Country Led Initiative, and was carried out by a group of consultants under the leadership of Ms Sheila Bhairo (APG consultants). It was prepared as a contribution to the UNFF Country-Led Initiative on Forest Financing, which was organized by the Governments of Suriname, the Netherlands and the United States in Paramaribo on 8-12 September 2008.

This study presents a national inventory and evaluation of existing finance mechanisms with a supporting sustainable forest management (SFM), including conservation of forests, in Suriname. Finance mechanisms from the public sector, international entities, the commercial private sector, forest communities and NGOs and the international private sector were all considered.

It was concluded that existing financing mechanisms for SFM in Suriname are all underdeveloped, not always available and if available, under less than favourable conditions. A number of recommendations was made, among others to remove barriers to financing, to address the tenure situation in the hinterland, to create a National Forest Fund, and to lobby actively for the creation of mechanisms for carbon crediting.

The report complements to another report on forest financing mechanisms in Latin America, which appeared recently [link]. This volume, co-authored by TBI adviser Kees van Dijk, reports on a series of studies conducted in the framework of a continent-wide evaluation of financing mechanisms for sustainable forest management.

One of the main challenges faced by many countries in stopping forest degradation and deforestation - and in enhancing the contribution of forests to development - is the need to increase the competitiveness of SFM and generate more investment in and revenues from forests. A key cause of the continued forest loss and unsustainable management is that only some forest functions, such as timber, have a value in the market. There is no market or compensation for many other important goods and services that forests provide.

It is increasingly realized that conventional financing mechanisms and existing funding volumes (including Official Development Assistance) will be insufficient to stem the loss of forests in the world. TBI emphasizes the need to adopt a holistic vision and develop comprehensive national forest financing strategies on forest financing in order to generate additional and new funding and to respond to the challenges for SFM. The inventories conducted in Latin America and now also in Suriname show that it is possible to harness a much wider array of financing mechanisms and instruments to capture funds from local, national, international, public and private sources such as access to capital markets, payment for forest services, certification and market development for forest products To make optimum use of these sources enabling policy environments and forest-related governance and management must be strengthened.

Suriname has escaped the large scale forest loss and forest degradation of many countries in the tropics. Yet, the revenues generated from its forests fail to meet the demands of sustainable development and fall short of realizing their full potential.

The CLI meeting on forest financing and this new study contributed by TBI Suriname provide a good basis for direct actions to improve the forest sector and for the debate on the development of a National Forest Financing Strategy and of innovative financing mechanisms that will help to convert Suriname's forest into a lasting and profitable asset to the Nation.

The rapid assessment study was financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.
The study on financing mechanisms in Latin America was conducted in the framework of projects financed by IUCN, FAO, the NFP-Facility, CCAD, OTCA, GTZ, BMZ and the Netherlands.

1 Bhairo-Marhé, S., Caldeira, W., Pigot, C. & Ramautarsing, W. 2009 Rapid Assessment of Existing Financial Mechanisms for Sustainable Forest Management in Suriname. TBI Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname. Download here the Report (PDF)