Carib Scope

标签： Suriname

苏里南

  • Eerste geval van vogelgriep vastgesteld: LVV grijpt in, voedselvoorziening niet in gevaar

    Eerste geval van vogelgriep vastgesteld: LVV grijpt in, voedselvoorziening niet in gevaar

    Suriname has recorded its first official case of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza, marking the arrival of the regional virus outbreak that has already impacted neighboring nations across South America. The infection was first detected at a commercial broiler chicken farm located in the capital city of Paramaribo, where between 5,000 and 6,000 birds have died from the virus. In immediate response, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) activated its emergency protocol and rolled out a series of strict control measures to halt further spread of the pathogen throughout the national poultry sector.

    Addressing public and industry concerns, Agriculture Minister Mike Noersalim emphasized that the country’s national supply of chicken meat remains secure and is not under threat from the outbreak. As of the latest update, the infection has been contained to the single Paramaribo commercial farm. A small number of poultry shipments that had already been transported to the Wanica and Commewijne districts before the outbreak was detected have since been located and culled by authorities to prevent further spread. A suspected case at a small-scale duck farm in Saramacca is currently undergoing further testing to confirm whether it is linked to the Paramaribo outbreak.

    Preliminary laboratory analysis conducted jointly by the Bureau of Public Health (BOG) and the Ministry of Public Health has found no evidence of human infection. All test results from samples collected from personnel who were exposed to infected birds have returned negative.

    Edmund Rozenblad, a veterinary surgeon and senior advisor to the agriculture minister, has moved to reassure consumers about the safety of commercially available poultry. “The current challenge is limited to poultry producers, not end consumers,” Rozenblad explained. “All chicken meat available in retail outlets is safe for human consumption as long as it is cooked thoroughly.” He did, however, issue a clear warning against a common unsafe practice among some consumers: tasting raw, marinated chicken during food preparation to check seasoning.

    A coordinated national response effort is now underway, led by the LVV alongside the National Coordination Center for Disaster Management (NCCR) and international health and agriculture partners. Over the critical 24 to 72-hour window following the confirmation of the outbreak, response teams have outlined three core priorities. First, they are ramping up surveillance and contact tracing, with intensive monitoring of all high-risk poultry farms and field workers who may have been exposed to the virus. Second, authorities are scaling up biosecurity and disinfection protocols, tightening hygiene standards across all commercial poultry operations nationwide. Third, response teams are working to secure additional supplies of diagnostic testing materials and personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.

    Suriname is one of the final countries in the South American region to confirm an H5 avian influenza outbreak, after neighboring nations including Brazil previously reported widespread outbreaks among poultry and wild bird populations. Minister Noersalim noted that the country had already implemented a series of preventive measures ahead of the first confirmed case, including a ban on imports of poultry products from the European Union, the establishment of a dedicated veterinary border checkpoint at Stolkerstijver, and biosecurity training for more than 3,000 workers across the poultry sector.

    Looking ahead, the LVV will hold a meeting with representatives from the entire national poultry sector on Monday to discuss market stabilization alternatives and evaluate support for producers affected by the outbreak, including plans for financial compensation for losses incurred during culling and containment operations.

  • GranMorgu halverwege, eerste olie in 2028

    GranMorgu halverwege, eerste olie in 2028

    Suriname’s landmark first large-scale offshore oil development, the GranMorgu project, has hit a key milestone, completing half of its planned work and remaining on schedule to deliver its first commercial crude oil by mid-2028, project leaders announced during a joint progress briefing hosted at the Kuldipsingh Port Facility over the weekend. The event, themed “A New Dawn Taking Shape”, brought together executives from lead developer TotalEnergies and Suriname’s national oil company Staatsolie, along with Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons, to outline both the project’s advancement and the critical preparations the South American nation must complete to capitalize on the expected new oil wealth.

    The billion-dollar GranMorgu development encompasses the Sapakara and Krabdagu oil fields, located roughly 150 kilometers off Suriname’s northern coast. As the project’s operator, TotalEnergies holds a 40% working stake in the development, alongside APA Corporation which also owns 40%, while Staatsolie retains the remaining 20% interest. To date, around half of the project’s total planned investment has been deployed. At full operational capacity, the project’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel will be capable of processing 220,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

    Visitors to the Kuldipsingh Port Facility can already see tangible signs of the massive technical operation taking shape: subsea equipment manufactured in Malaysia, including wellhead components, Christmas tree systems (heavy subsea installations fitted with valves, monitoring sensors and control systems to regulate and secure production from individual oil wells), and other parts of the offshore subsea pipeline network are currently staged on site ahead of their upcoming deployment to the seabed. During a pre-event tour of the facility, President Simons noted that the physical presence of this large-scale equipment makes the project’s progress tangible, confirming how far the development has advanced in recent years.

    Beyond the construction and engineering milestones, project stakeholders emphasized that the rapidly developing oil sector presents Suriname with urgent, large-scale challenges that must be addressed to ensure widespread shared economic benefit. The top priority is expanding vocational and technical training programs to build a skilled local workforce capable of supporting the new industry. The project will require trained workers for roles across construction, logistics, maintenance and offshore operations, with a focus on both technical vocational skills and academic training. TotalEnergies estimates that the GranMorgu project will generate between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in local economic activity, and support more than 6,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs across Suriname. President Simons stressed that oil development does not automatically translate to broad-based prosperity: young Surinamese will need to pursue targeted training and certification to access the new job opportunities created by the industry.

    Staatsolie CEO Anand Jagesar also warned of the macroeconomic risks that accompany a sudden influx of oil revenue. A rapid flood of foreign capital and foreign workers could drive a sharp increase in domestic demand, pushing up prices for housing, hospitality, and other consumer goods and services, potentially crowding out existing non-oil sectors. To mitigate this risk, Jagesar pointed to Suriname’s Savings and Stabilization Fund, designed to prevent all future oil revenue from flooding into the domestic economy all at once. While legislation establishing the fund was updated and enacted by the end of 2024, the International Monetary Fund confirmed in May 2025 that while Suriname has taken important legislative steps, the full operationalization of the fiscal framework for the fund is still incomplete.

    When asked to rate Suriname’s current level of preparation for the launch of offshore oil production, Jagesar gave the country a score of 6.5 out of 10. He noted that there is broad buy-in for the project across government, the private sector and civil society, but the country needs to reach a preparation level of 8.5 out of 10, with significant work still required to expand training programs, upgrade infrastructure, and deepen professionalization across supporting sectors. Even so, Jagesar observed that local Surinamese companies are already investing in upgrades and adapting to meet the strict international standards required by the offshore oil industry.

    GranMorgu may also just be the beginning of Suriname’s offshore oil sector. TotalEnergies is continuing its exploration activities in Block 58, where GranMorgu is located, with four new exploration wells scheduled to be drilled in 2026. Jagesar expressed ambition that new discoveries could support the development of a second FPSO in the block, expanding Suriname’s long-term oil production capacity.

  • Amoni Afonsoewa pakt eerste prijs in ratingcategorie op internationaal damtoernooi

    Amoni Afonsoewa pakt eerste prijs in ratingcategorie op internationaal damtoernooi

    An international draughts tournament held from September 9 to 17 in Trinidad and Tobago has delivered a historic win for Team Suriname, with Amoni Afonsoewa securing first place in the highly competitive 2000–2099 rating category.

    Hosted over nine days of intense, strategic play, the tournament drew a diverse field of top draughts competitors from across the globe. Suriname’s national delegation, led by the Suriname Draughts Federation (SDB), held its own against elite international opposition, with Afonsoewa delivering the squad’s standout individual performance. In addition to Afonsoewa’s category win, Arief Salarbaks and Niaaz Salarbaks turned in strong consistent play to finish as the highest-ranked Surinamese competitors in the tournament’s open overall standings.

    Another notable milestone from the tournament came from Suriname’s Phavan Basdewsingh, who submitted an official application during the event for the prestigious international title of Candidate Master of the FMJD (CMF). If approved, the title will mark a major career milestone for Basdewsingh, elevating his standing in international draughts. One of the tournament’s most anticipated matchups saw Basdewsingh go head-to-head against former world champion Guntis Valneris of Latvia, highlighting the high caliber of competition Surinamese players faced over the nine-day event.

    Looking back on the team’s participation, the Suriname Draughts Federation expressed deep satisfaction with the delegation’s performance. Officials emphasized that the squad represented Suriname with honor and dignity, and beyond the tangible tournament results, the invaluable high-level international competition experience gained will be transformative for the long-term growth of the country’s draughts athletes.

    “Competing at events like this gives our players the unique chance to test their skills against competitors of varying skill levels and contrasting playing styles,” SDB representatives noted. The federation underscored that the experience gained at the Trinidad and Tobago tournament will directly contribute to the ongoing development and expansion of draughts as a competitive sport across Suriname, laying stronger groundwork for future international successes.

  • Jagesar: Spin-off GranMorgu nu al merkbaar, aandacht verschuift ook naar gas

    Jagesar: Spin-off GranMorgu nu al merkbaar, aandacht verschuift ook naar gas

    Even though first commercial oil production from Suriname’s landmark GranMorgu offshore oil project is not slated to begin until 2028, the economic ripple effects of the Block 58 development are already being felt across the country, according to Anand Jagesar, chief executive officer of state-owned energy firm Staatsolie.

    During a recent site visit to the Kuldipsingh Port Facility, where key subsea infrastructure components for the $X billion project are currently being prepped for deployment, Jagesar noted that roughly 700 local Surinamese workers are already employed in onshore activities tied to the offshore project alone. The large equipment currently staged on land at the port will eventually be installed on the ocean floor, where it will remain as a core part of the project’s production system for decades to come.

    Jagesar broke down GranMorgu into three core integrated components: a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel currently under construction in China, reservoir wells drilled beneath the seabed, and the subsea infrastructure that connects the producing wells to the FPSO. “This is the last time this equipment will be seen on land. It will operate on the ocean floor for the next 50 years, generating production and revenue for our nation,” Jagesar stated of the components staged at the port facility. Staatsolie holds a 20% stake in the GranMorgu development, and additionally fulfills regulatory and oversight responsibilities for petroleum activities across the country as a state-owned entity.

    Beyond the project’s long-term revenue potential, Jagesar emphasized that it is already driving tangible improvements to local livelihoods through job creation. With 700 direct positions already filled by Surinamese workers at the port facility alone, he calculated that approximately 3,000 household members are already benefiting from the project’s early-stage activities. Looking ahead, the company has set an ambition to grow the total number of direct local jobs tied to the development of the country’s offshore energy sector to roughly 2,000 once the project progresses toward full operation.

    Jagesar added that the economic spillover from GranMorgu extends far beyond direct project employment. Local service providers and businesses across multiple non-energy sectors are already seeing increased activity tied to the growing oil and gas industry. Hotels, restaurants, and local transport services in particular have benefited from the influx of international energy conferences, foreign corporate delegations, and expert personnel traveling to Suriname to support the project’s development.

    At the same time, Jagesar argued that national energy development conversations should not focus exclusively on oil. He pointed to recent major natural gas discoveries in Suriname’s offshore waters, saying these reserves deserve far greater attention in strategic discussions about the future of the country’s energy sector. To advance this agenda, he is considering organizing a dedicated new energy conference. Unlike previous industry gatherings, which centered heavily on offshore oil discoveries and the progress of the GranMorgu development, the next event would place a sharp focus on natural gas and its commercial development opportunities. The country’s strategic focus is gradually shifting away from solely launching its first large-scale offshore oil production toward mapping out the next steps to unlock full value from both its oil and gas reserves, Jagesar noted.

  • Suriname en Guyana willen gezamenlijk optrekken op markt voor carbon credits

    Suriname en Guyana willen gezamenlijk optrekken op markt voor carbon credits

    Two neighboring South American nations, forest-rich Suriname and Guyana, are moving to deepen cross-border cooperation, with a landmark proposal to boost their collective negotiating power in the fast-growing global carbon credit market taking center stage during a high-stakes diplomatic event this week.

    On Wednesday, the plan for a unified, single-voice approach to the international carbon credit sector was formally brought forward during the credential presentation ceremony for newly appointed Surinamese Ambassador Ivan Fernald to Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. The accreditation formalizes Fernald’s role as Suriname’s extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to Guyana; he was officially sworn into the post by Suriname President Jennifer Simons on August 21.

    Following the formal credential ceremony, leaders from both nations held closed-door bilateral talks focused on expanding the long-standing partnership between the two countries. According to official statements released after the meeting, President Ali acknowledged that minor bilateral challenges remain between the neighbors, but emphasized that shared priorities make coordinated action critical for advancing regional integration across South America. President Ali specifically highlighted his priority of deepening people-to-people ties and cultural collaboration between the two nations’ populations as a core pillar of closer relations.

    On Suriname’s behalf, Ambassador Fernald laid out a broad, ambitious economic cooperation agenda covering multiple high-impact sectors. Key priorities identified for joint work include advancing shared food security, upgrading cross-border logistics and transport connectivity, expanding collaboration in the oil and gas sector, and investing in human capital development. The framework also includes planned cooperation in education, aligned labor market policy, and joint initiatives to expand the pool of skilled skilled workers across both countries.

    Among the most consequential topics discussed was unlocking the economic potential of the two countries’ extensive intact tropical forest ecosystems, which rank among the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. To maximize the value of these natural assets on the global carbon market, Suriname proposed that the governments of Paramaribo and Georgetown coordinate all activities and speak with one voice when engaging international buyers and regulatory bodies.

    President Ali issued a positive initial response to the Surinamese proposal. He also raised the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) during the conversation, calling on both nations to sign onto the alliance as a concrete step to formalize their expanded environmental partnership. The two countries already have a long history of cross-sector cooperation, with energy collaboration a long-standing standing point of their bilateral agenda. In a previous joint statement alongside Brazil, Suriname and Guyana agreed to deepen joint work on oil and gas development, renewable energy expansion, and broader regional energy integration.

    Ahead of the formal credential presentation at President Ali’s office, Ambassador Fernald held a preliminary meeting with Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. He was accompanied to the official accreditation ceremony by two fellow Surinamese diplomats, Melinda Reijme and Lucill Starke-Esajas.

  • Braganza wacht nog op kap- en milieuvergunningen voor landbouwprojecten

    Braganza wacht nog op kap- en milieuvergunningen voor landbouwprojecten

    Three planned large-scale agricultural projects in western Suriname have not yet secured all mandatory government and environmental approvals required for full construction to begin, Braganza Marketing Group director Lionel Blokland has confirmed in written responses to local outlet Starnieuws.

    Blokland outlined three outstanding preconditions that must be satisfied before the full 34,185-hectare initiative can get underway. First, the company is still waiting on formal logging permits to clear land for production. Second, it has not received preliminary approval from the National Environmental Authority (NMA) to launch full activities. Third, it requires government cooperation to ensure that participating Mennonite migrants continue to comply with Suriname’s immigration regulations.

    While preliminary site preparation work including limited deforestation is already underway at the project locations along the Weg naar West-Suriname corridor, Blokland emphasized that all current activities fall within the scope of a pre-negotiated agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV). Under that agreement, the company is permitted to construct work camps, mark project boundaries and complete other pre-development groundwork, and Braganza maintains it has not conducted any work that requires unapproved permits at this stage.

    The public law agreement between Braganza and LVV requires all site preparation, agricultural infrastructure work and land development to adhere to strict existing regulatory conditions, including binding environmental protection requirements and full compliance with all Surinamese national laws. Environmental scrutiny of the project has been particularly intense due to the large scale of the proposed soy and maize production operations, which are planned for the Tibiti and Kabalebo regions.

    Braganza has previously stated that internal surveys of the project area found no evidence of primary old-growth forest on the site, a claim intended to address concerns about widespread ecological harm from large-scale industrial agriculture. However, final authority to assess the project’s environmental impact rests with the national environmental regulator, not the developer itself.

    Blokland’s recent confirmation makes clear that both logging approval processes and full environmental assessment procedures are still ongoing. As of yet, there is no public timeline for when the required final approvals will be granted, nor is there clarity on what specific binding conditions regulators will attach to the greenlight for full project implementation. Intensive consultations between Braganza, LVV and other national regulatory bodies are currently underway to resolve the outstanding approval issues.

  • Landbouwers Perica pakken zelf slechte landbouwweg aan

    Landbouwers Perica pakken zelf slechte landbouwweg aan

    In the Marowijne district of Suriname, smallholder farmers in the Perica community have grown tired of waiting for government intervention to fix their crumbling farm access road, and have taken rehabilitation into their own hands — mobilizing their own resources to launch repair work on the route that connects their production plots to regional supply chains.

    The Cooperative Platform for Agricultural Development Marowijne (CPAOM), a local agricultural advocacy group, has thrown its support behind the grassroots initiative with a 10,000 Surinamese dollar contribution, handed over to participating farmers last Friday by CPAOM treasurer Umro Gangadien and board members Patricia Mansro and Leo Moese. But the organization has issued a clear warning: placing the permanent structural maintenance of critical agricultural infrastructure on the shoulders of independent producers is neither sustainable nor fair.

    CPAOM has formally requested that the national government step in to provide heavy construction equipment and building materials to complete the Perica road rehabilitation, and has put forward a long-term proposal to address systemic infrastructure gaps across the district. The organization is calling for a comprehensive baseline survey of all key agricultural roads in Marowijne, which would allow authorities to develop a phased rehabilitation program prioritized by urgency and economic impact.

    Poor road access has already created a cascading financial burden for local producers, CPAOM data shows. Deteriorated road surfaces drive up vehicle maintenance and repair costs for farmers who own their own transport, while those without private vehicles are forced to pay inflated third-party fees to access their plots and ship harvested goods to market. These extra overhead costs get passed through to overall production expenses, eventually pushing up retail prices for local agricultural goods — and in turn, eroding the competitive position of Surinamese producers against cheaper imported alternatives.

    For their part, the Perica farmers say they are committed to taking shared responsibility for boosting local food production and regional economic development. “We are ready to roll up our sleeves to get this work done,” said Ramon Koempie, speaking on behalf of the participating farmers. “But at the same time, we expect the government to fulfill its responsibility to create the basic conditions that let farmers actually produce and do business.” Beyond functional farm access roads, the farmers also identified other critical enabling needs: improved water management, expanded access to affordable financing, better market access for their products, higher quality planting material, and strengthened knowledge and capacity building support for small producers.

    CPAOM stresses that the Perica farmers’ self-led initiative should not be misconstrued as a permanent solution to Marowijne’s agricultural infrastructure crisis. The organization is pushing for government action to upgrade other high-priority agricultural roads across the district, particularly routes that connect major production zones to main arterial highways and key market distribution points. Gangadien emphasized that the group is seeking collaborative, not confrontational, engagement with public authorities. “We do not want to stand in opposition to the government,” he noted. “Instead, we want to work alongside farmers and the government to find practical, achievable solutions that work for everyone.”

    Ultimately, CPAOM argues that investing in agricultural infrastructure upgrades will deliver widespread public benefits across Marowijne’s rural agrarian communities, including higher farm output, improved national food security, expanded local employment opportunities, and more sustainable income generation for smallholder producer households.

  • Bedrijfsplan Braganza erkent milieuschade grootschalige sojateelt

    Bedrijfsplan Braganza erkent milieuschade grootschalige sojateelt

    A proposed large-scale soy and corn production project led by Braganza Marketing Group in Suriname has sparked intense environmental scrutiny, after the company’s own strategic business document acknowledged the link between expanding global soy cultivation and widespread deforestation and biodiversity loss in other regions. The debate over ecological risks has gained new urgency as the agribusiness firm moves forward with plans to develop thousands of hectares of land and partners with Mennonite farmers to execute the initiative.

    Braganza’s 2022-2031 business plan, finalized in May 2023, opens with an analysis of the global soy market and large-scale agricultural production hubs around the world. In the document, the company explicitly notes that rising international demand for soy – most of which is used for livestock feed – has driven the conversion of large swathes of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest into agricultural land, with devastating impacts on native forest ecosystems and global biodiversity. Despite this acknowledgment, the plan outlines major expansion of mechanized large-scale agriculture in Suriname, starting with thousands of hectares of cultivated land with plans for further incremental expansion.

    In January 2026, Suriname’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) entered into a public legal agreement with Braganza, granting the company conditional access to 9,366.72 hectares of state-owned land in the Para district for a 20-year term. The land is designated specifically for large-scale mechanized farming and related supporting activities, and the agreement requires Braganza to bring at least 10 percent of the total area into cultivation each year.

    However, the deal does not give Braganza free rein to clear the entire concession. All development activities must comply with Suriname’s national environmental legislation, binding international commitments, and existing national agricultural policy frameworks. Additional specific permits are required for site preparation, land cultivation, and infrastructure construction.

    Environmental concerns have become the central point of public debate around the project and the involvement of Mennonite farmers recruited by Braganza. LVV Minister Mike Noersalim has publicly stated that all mandatory environmental impact assessments must be completed and all required approvals secured before large-scale development can begin, adding that any clearing of primary forest is strictly prohibited under national regulation.

    Braganza CEO Ruud Souverein told reporters the company has already submitted the scoping phase of its environmental impact report to the National Environmental Authority (NMA) and is currently awaiting regulatory feedback. Souverein claimed that preliminary surveys have found no primary forest within the project concession area, noting that most of the vegetation targeted for development is secondary forest. This claim has not yet been independently verified, leaving key questions unresolved: what is the official classification of vegetation and forest cover across the concession, how much land will ultimately be approved for clearing, and what binding environmental conditions will the NMA impose on the project?

    Mennonite farmers recruited by Braganza have already established a presence in the Tibiti region. During a recent site visit by members of Suriname’s parliament, environmental activist Erlan Sleur, and journalists, observers confirmed that a portion of the concession area has already been cleared. Local reporting indicates that further clearing and development work is currently on hold pending regulatory review.

    Braganza’s business plan itself acknowledges that most available agricultural land in Suriname requires major preparation before it can be brought into commercial cultivation, and it also identifies land rights issues as a key risk for the project. The public agreement between Braganza and the LVV requires the company to prioritize local community members for employment opportunities, support local services, and include local stakeholders in regional development planning. The deal also mandates the establishment of a $100,000 community development fund.

    However, the official agreement document obtained by local outlet Starnieuws leaves critical details about the fund undefined: it does not specify which local community or communities are intended to benefit from the fund, who will manage its assets, or what formal rules will govern the distribution of funds for local projects. This lack of clarity has added to existing concerns from civil society groups that the project will prioritize corporate profit over environmental protection and the rights of local populations, who have lived in and relied on the region’s forest ecosystems for generations.

  • ‘Mogelijk’ US$ 1.693.800 betaald voor overname rechten op 9.410 hectare landbouwgrond

    ‘Mogelijk’ US$ 1.693.800 betaald voor overname rechten op 9.410 hectare landbouwgrond

    A leaked 2025 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Braganza Marketing Group and a group of Mennonites from Belize has pulled back the curtain on opaque financial arrangements tied to thousands of hectares of earmarked land for large-scale agricultural development in Suriname, contradicting public statements made by Braganza’s leadership. Dated November 27, 2025, the document was shared with regional outlet Starnieuws by environmental activist John Goedschalk, who has long tracked controversial land development projects in the country. Its contents directly conflict with written claims Braganza Director Lionel Blokland provided to Starnieuws just last week.

    The core terms of the MoU outline a structured financial deal that would see the Mennonite group acquire 100% of the shares in a local Surinamese company called Agriculture New Surland N.V. Once the share acquisition is complete, land rights for roughly 9,410 hectares of territory would be transferred to the company. The total price tag for this transaction is listed as US$1.693 million, and the agreement names key representatives from both sides: Jacob Olfert Friesen and Heinrich Hamm for the Mennonites, and Christiaan Rudolf Souverein for Braganza. Additional signatories include Peter Schmidt alongside the named Mennonite representatives.

    Most notably, the MoU directly contradicts Blokland’s categorical denial to Starnieuws last week that Braganza was selling any land to the Mennonite group. When asked if Braganza or any affiliated party was receiving per-hectare payments for the land, Blokland avoided a direct answer, noting only that there were agreements in place regarding investments and mutual financial obligations, but that these details were not open to public scrutiny. The leaked MoU confirms that as of late November 2025, a concrete financial structure had already been finalized that explicitly links the share transfer to land rights for the 9,410-hectare plot.

    The payment schedule laid out in the document is equally revealing. According to the MoU, the Mennonites had already transferred US$250,000 to the bank account of Braganza Marketing Group N.V. by the time the agreement was signed. A second payment of US$596,900 would be made directly to Braganza next, bringing the total paid to 50% of the overall sum. A third installment of US$423,450 would follow one year after the transaction closes, with a fourth and final payment of the same amount due two years post-transaction. All installments are designated to be deposited into Braganza’s accounts, adding up to the total sum of US$1.693 million. Notably, the US$250,000 down payment and the overall US$1.69 million total were first reported earlier this year by the international environmental news platform Mongabay, which also reviewed a copy of the MoU related to the Mennonites’ relocation and development plans in Suriname.

    When broken down by the total acreage, the per-hectare price works out to roughly US$180. This figure conflicts with the US$150 per hectare figure recently cited to journalists by Belizean Mennonite representative Peter Petersen. The MoU does not clarify where Petersen’s US$150 figure originated, but it does confirm that a large sum of money is directly tied to the land rights deal for the 9,410-hectare plot.

    Blokland’s response last week attempted to distance Braganza from the Mennonites’ internal financial arrangements, claiming that any internal accounting within the Mennonite communities was a private matter. He did acknowledge that Braganza and Mennonite-owned entities had agreements for investments and mutual financial obligations, but refused to disclose any specific dollar amounts. The leaked MoU, however, includes concrete figures, explicit payment deadlines, and names Braganza as the direct recipient of all payments. At the same time, Starnieuws cautions that it cannot confirm based on this single document whether all the terms laid out in the November 2025 MoU have been implemented unchanged, or whether subsequent agreements have altered the original terms.

    The phrasing surrounding the 9,410 hectares of land also raises new questions about compliance with existing public land regulations. A separate January 13, 2026 agreement between Braganza and Suriname’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) states that the Surinamese government retains full ownership of the state land in question, and Braganza only holds a functional, non-transferable right of use. Any transfer of rights to third parties requires prior written approval from the LVV. This creates a clear conflict with the November 2025 MoU’s plan to transfer land rights via a share sale to the Mennonite group, raising questions about how the two agreements align.

    For Goedschalk, the contradictions between Braganza’s public statements and the terms laid out in the leaked MoU demand full transparency. The activist has monitored large-scale agricultural development and the Mennonites’ planned expansion in Suriname critically for several years. Back in 2023, he released public documents detailing land applications tied to Terra Invest and Ruud Souverein, noting at the time that he was not claiming the land had already been allocated, only that applications had been submitted. Now, with this new leaked document in hand, Goedschalk is renewing his call for complete public disclosure of all financial and legal structures behind the current wave of agricultural development projects in Suriname.

  • Het katje dat niemand herkende: Bolivia ontdekt nieuwe wilde kattensoort

    Het katje dat niemand herkende: Bolivia ontdekt nieuwe wilde kattensoort

    For most major scientific discoveries, researchers must trek deep into uncharted jungles, spend decades excavating fossils, or deploy cutting-edge equipment to probe the depths of the world’s oceans. But the story of *Leopardus tilcayo* — the first new living species of wild cat identified by science in more than 100 years — began with a far more ordinary chain of events: a lost kitten, a local family’s mistake, and an attentive biologist’s quiet suspicion.

    The small, spotted feline was found alone as a kitten on the edge of forestland in Bolivia’s Yungas region. A local resident took the animal in and cared for it for roughly a year, assuming it was just an ordinary domestic cat. As it grew, however, the animal began to display wild behaviors, including hunting the neighborhood’s chickens, making it clear this was no house cat. In 2016, the animal was transferred to Senda Verde, a local wildlife rescue center, where staff reached out to biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz with a simple, curious note: they had a “strange cat” that didn’t match any known local species.

    That single phone call launched nearly a decade of international collaborative research, whose results were published this week in the peer-reviewed scientific journal *Current Biology*. Led by Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic researcher, the study has upended existing understanding of small South American wild cats, and added an entirely new species to the world’s taxonomic records.

    The newly named tilcayo is a remarkably small feline: it grows to roughly 46 centimeters in body length and weighs an average of just 1.4 kilograms, smaller than the average adult domestic house cat. Its light brown coat is marked with dark, irregular rosette spots, it has proportionally small, rounded ears, and a longer, fuller tail than its closest genetic relatives. At first glance, the tilcayo closely resembles other small spotted cats native to South America — a similarity that hid it from formal scientific identification for centuries.

    The *Leopardus* genus, commonly called tiger cats, is what researchers call a cryptic species group: its members can look nearly identical to the naked eye, but genetic analysis reveals they are evolutionarily distinct lineages separated by millions of years of independent development. “You need full genetic analysis to uncover the meaningful differences between these groups,” explained Jonas Lescroart, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Antwerp and a co-author of the study. For this research, the team sequenced and analyzed the full genome of 38 *Leopardus* individuals, including DNA samples from century-old museum specimens to build a full evolutionary history of the group.

    The results were surprising: what was long classified as a small group of just a few species is actually five genetically distinct species, one of which was the unrecognized Bolivian cat. Genetic dating confirms the tilcayo’s evolutionary lineage split from other tiger cats roughly 1.4 million years ago — meaning the species has roamed South America’s forests for millennia before it ever received a formal scientific name. Notably, the name *Leopardus tilcayo* is not a new coinage created in a laboratory: “tilcayo” is the traditional name that Indigenous and local communities in the Yungas have used for generations to distinguish this cat from other small spotted felids in the region. By retaining the traditional name in the formal scientific classification, researchers centered the long-held local knowledge of the species that predated modern scientific discovery by centuries.

    As the research team emphasizes, the story of the tilcayo’s discovery is almost a story that never happened. When Nogales-Ascarrunz first examined the rescued cat in 2016, she too initially assumed it was a known species, *Leopardus tigrinus*. But she noticed subtle differences in the shape and size of its coat spots that did not match the known profile of the species. That small, nagging suspicion ultimately grew into a full international research collaboration that brought together genetic data from across the world and compared it to hundreds of archived museum specimens. “Once we combined all our data sets, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place,” Lescroart said.

    Now that the species has been formally identified, the work to understand it is only just beginning. Researchers still do not know how many tilcayo individuals live in the wild, nor the full extent of their geographic range. To date, the species has only been genetically confirmed in Bolivia, and it remains unclear if populations also exist in neighboring Peru or Argentina. Very little is known about the species’ behavior and ecology: preliminary camera trap data suggests the tilcayo is primarily nocturnal, and analysis of fecal samples confirms small rodents make up part of its diet, but almost nothing is known about its breeding patterns, territorial range, natural predators or social behavior. Teams have already begun deploying camera traps across the Yungas to collect more data on the elusive species.

    While the identification of a completely new mammal species is widely being celebrated as an exciting scientific breakthrough, it also comes with an urgent new conservation responsibility. The Yungas, the humid montane cloud forest that is the tilcayo’s known habitat, is under severe threat from deforestation, industrial agricultural expansion and unregulated mining. Smaller geographic ranges automatically put a species at greater risk of extinction, and the new classification means the entire tiger cat group will require re-evaluation by conservation scientists. Currently, the IUCN Red List classifies tiger cats as a single vulnerable group; with the confirmation of five distinct species, each lineage will now be assessed individually for conservation status. The research team has already shared their full findings with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to support this updated evaluation, meaning a species that did not exist in formal scientific literature just weeks ago could soon receive targeted endangered species protection.

    The discovery of the tilcayo comes at a moment when many people assume all terrestrial megafauna have already been documented by science. In an era of high-resolution satellite mapping that can image every corner of the globe, and DNA sequencing technology that can reconstruct evolutionary history with unprecedented precision, many assume there are few large, new species left to find. But the tilcayo’s story proves the natural world still holds hidden secrets: it walked the forests of Bolivia for 1.4 million years, was known to local communities for centuries, and only revealed itself to formal science when a curious biologist stopped to question a seemingly obvious identification. The small spotted cat now roaming the cloud forests between the Andes and the Amazon basin is a reminder that even on our well-explored planet, there are always new discoveries waiting to be made.