Drought hits Suriname and affects the living conditions of its residents

The son of the village of Atjoni in Suriname, John Ajako, issued a deep sigh when his thoughts turned to his income, which has begun to decrease in recent months, given that he owns a boat to transport passengers across the river, which has begun to recede in the recent period, as a result of the drought in the Upper Suriname region, where it is located. Atjoni village, Ajako boat is moored with dozens of other boats on the village pier.

The month of December witnesses an increase in the trend of local passengers, and tourists usually heading to the heart of Suriname, a country located on the northeastern coast of South America, where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

But that business has halved in the past year, a decline underscored by the silence you find at Atjouni Pier, where you find a few people waiting with their luggage.

As the water level in the river has decreased significantly, a distance that could normally be covered in four hours now takes almost a full day.

Passengers have to brave the rapids with their luggage. “They find it very tiring, so people these days only travel when necessary,” says Ajako, as he prepares for the 45-minute journey to Jo Jo Village. So much so that it is possible to walk in the river in some places,” he added, “I have not seen anything like this in several decades, and this is a real disaster, and we fear it will get worse, and we are now crying for rain.”

Major transfer point

Atjoni is a village in Sibalewini, the largest province of Suriname, 180 kilometers from the capital, Paramaribo.

The village pier serves as a hub and main transportation point to the villages along the Upper Suriname River, where the majority of the population are “Maroons” from the “Samaka” communities, descendants of Africans who fled to the interior of Suriname.

Drought began in Suriname at the beginning of 2023, with very severe climatic conditions, and by last February, fires had spread to wildlife, causing major health risks.

Last August, drought greatly reduced water sources, forcing human communities to rely on polluted river water. This resulted in the spread of diseases through the water, especially among children under the age of five, as reported in Sibalewini County.

Health facilities and schools were also severely damaged, due to the lack of clean water, as the lack of clean water led to the disruption of medical services and education.

Reports from medical clinics indicate that there are shortages of medical supplies and staff, as well as basic sanitation problems, which have exacerbated the crisis.

Unstable weather and successive crop failures exacerbated food insecurity, and high food prices and transportation costs from Paramaribo left many homes without adequate amounts of food, further complicating the poor health situation among women, children and adults.

Challenges

Mugabe Antomwe, a member of the council of the village of Abbinstone near Jojo, said: “The situation has become very challenging in Upper Suriname, and crop cultivation has become a difficult issue in the interior region, where more than 300 families depend on agriculture for food.”

“It is not only the rivers that are drying up, even the streams from which we get drinking water are now completely dry,” Antomwe added.

Schools in Abenston are only open two or three days a week.

“Teachers who have to come from the city have difficulty getting to their workplaces, and there is no drinking water or running water for toilets,” says Graida Tomatti, the mother of a student in Abbinston.

French Guiana

According to a report issued by UNICEF, last November, on the ongoing drought in Suriname, communities in the interior regions were severely affected, as the drought affected 52 villages and 40,000 people throughout Sibalewini, Haut Suriname, and the provinces of Tabanahoni and Kirwini, where 70% of the population needs food. Humanitarian aid.

This situation has prompted many people from Suriname to complain about the government, because they see the neighboring country as French Guiana, a French province outside French territory, that the drought did not affect it, and did not cause it the same problems that Suriname suffers from, even though it is very close to it.

Children in the village of Aptena, home to the indigenous Wayana people, are still enjoying full-time education despite the drought and low water levels, but according to one Aptena resident, an activist with the Molokote Foundation, a community organization, Degun Quimapo, this is not because Surinamese government.

The village is located on the Tabanahoni River in the southeast of Suriname, about 90 kilometers from the French Guiana border, and its population of 300 people depends on foreign aid.

“Children in Aptina and other Wayana villages in this region are learning in French schools, and if we want to wait for the government, we will get nothing,” Quimabu says. Quimabu is disappointed with the lack of help from the government.

Emergency

Tabanahoni District Commissioner Henk Dale says he expects the central government to declare a state of emergency in the interior of Suriname. “The situation has become very dangerous,” he adds, describing the drought as the most severe of its kind in at least the past 20 years.

Dale admits that the difficulty of navigating rivers due to water shortages makes obtaining goods increasingly difficult, leading to higher prices.

He confirms: “There is now a scarcity of food and fuel, and a decline in the quality of medical supplies in the region, but it is up to the national authorities to decide on this.”

According to Dale, the French Guiana government has allocated two million dollars in aid to villages on the French side of the border. He says: “The Surinamese and the (Maroon) people expect the same support from their government, so the authorities must intervene now, as the situation is getting worse.” About the Guardian

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High “temperature”

The Tabanahoni District Commissioner, Henk Dale, reported that the temperature in Suriname has risen by about one degree Celsius (equivalent to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the past 50 years, stressing the importance of the government moving quickly to confront the harsh climate conditions and resulting drought, before things get worse in the country. The country.

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Historic drought

Data issued by the World Bank’s Climate Change Knowledge Portal on the weather record for Suriname show that the year 2023 witnessed 20 consecutive days of drought, the second highest number since 1997, says climate scientist Sukarni Salons-Metro, from the Ouray Ops organization. » The environmental group, which monitors the weather in Suriname, said that extremely high temperatures were also recorded in the dry and rainy seasons, which led to historic drought in different parts of the country, and Salons adds that “The short rainy season, which began last December, brings more frequent rains, but this will not fill the rivers and streams immediately, which is why the water in the rivers and streams evaporates.”

Climate change…the main reason

The head of the National Disaster Relief Center in Suriname, Jerry Slingard, said that his team had identified 147 villages in need of assistance, including concentrations of illegal miners from abroad, adding: “We do not differentiate between Surinamese and illegal foreigners… We help everyone,” he explained. The Center is working on preparing reports to facilitate government actions regarding the drought phenomenon, and assigning the Center to take the necessary action.

But Slingard stressed that whatever the procedure, implementation on the ground will be difficult, because there is a vast area of ​​the country that needs assistance, so it will be a “large, expensive and complex” process, as he described it.

He added that the costs are estimated at about 250 thousand pounds sterling, noting that approximately half of this amount will be allocated to upgrading transportation systems to address the complications related to transportation during the drought, which does not show any signs that it is about to end.

Slingard pointed out that the cause of the drought may be partly due to natural fluctuations, such as the periodic El Nino phenomenon, which reduces rainfall in northern South America.

Scientists confirm that the main cause of drought in Suriname is climate change, which has contributed to changing rainfall patterns, raising average temperatures, and increasing the magnitude of natural fluctuations, in addition to changing trends systematically over time.

Hydrologist and climate change researcher at Anton de Kom University in Suriname, Professor Seonath Naipal, says that multiple factors contribute to this severe drought, including deforestation in the Amazon and illegal gold mining.

“We cannot ignore climate change when looking at this drought,” he adds, warning that the problems will continue to become more widespread as human activities expand and forests disappear.

. Difficulty navigating rivers due to water shortages makes obtaining goods difficult, leading to higher prices.

. Unstable weather and successive crop failures have exacerbated food insecurity.