The government in Suriname said it cancelled a controversial pilot program that would have brought hundreds of Mennonites to the country to carry out agricultural activity, likely in forested areas. Suriname President Chan Santokhi confirmed to local media this week that he shuttered a pilot program setting aside 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) for 50 Mennonite families, easing some fears that the country was on the verge of destroying large parts of the Amazon Rainforest. “We in the international conservation movement congratulate President Santokhi and the people of Suriname for taking a thoughtful and considered move in deciding how best to manage the country’s resources for the benefit of all the country’s citizens,” said President of Amazon Conservation Team Mark Plotkin. Currently, the Amazon Rainforest covers nearly 93% of the country’s total surface area. Photo by David Evers via Flickr The three-year pilot program worried opposition politicians, conservation groups and Indigenous communities because of Mennonite colonies’ history of widespread deforestation in other parts of the region. In Bolivia, colonies have cleared hundreds of thousands of hectares of Amazon Rainforest over the last two decades. In southern Mexico, a handful of colonies have been tied to thousands of hectares of deforestation since the early 2010s. Similar activity in Suriname would threaten the country’s net-negative carbon emission status, critics of the project said. Currently, the Amazon Rainforest covers nearly 93% of the country’s total surface area. A representative of Terra Invest, the company facilitating the relocation of the Mennonites, said they wanted more…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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