Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8.3 THE CASE OF NIEUW KOFFIEKAMP (SURINAME)
In Suriname the tribal village Nieuw Koffiekamp did not find protection of its interests
in national law when the government granted their territory to a multinational mining
company. The absence of adequate national legislation for small-scale mining, in com-
bination with the customary legal system of the Ndjuka Maroon community, gave rise
to many years of negotiation between the company, the government, the community
authorities and local small-scale miners. After years of protests, small-scale gold min-
ers from the Ndjuka community succeeded in acquiring the informal right to mine on
the multinational's concession. Their formal rights remain elusive, however, and they
have to renegotiate their position time and again.
Nieuw Koffiekamp is a Maroon community of about 500 people in the rain-
forest of Suriname, some 100 km south of Suriname's capital city of Paramaribo.
Maroons are tribal peoples of African descent who live in the rainforest. They have
their own languages, cultural traditions, religious and leadership structures, and cus-
tomary laws and regulations that have developed over almost three centuries. About
20% of the Surinamese population is Maroon, and in the inlands they are by far the
largest group. The Ndjuka are one of the six Surinamese Maroon tribes. The Ndjuka
of Nieuw Koffiekamp claim exclusive and inalienable rights to the village grounds
and surrounding lands that they use for productive activities, such as subsistence agri-
culture, hunting, fishing, timber harvest and small-scale gold mining. They base their
claims in the customary law and written agreements that were part of the peace treaties
between the colonial government and the Ndjuka, established in the 1760s. However,
these rights to land and natural resources are not recognised by the contemporary
formal law.
In the interior of Suriname, customary law was not contested until recently. The
Maroon groups generally agree about the boundaries between clans and tribes, and
about who has the right to use certain natural resources in their own territory and on
the lands of others. For example, one may generally hunt and collect forest products
for own use in an area claimed by another clan, but for commercial activities one needs
the permission of tribal authorities. In the case of gold mining, it is common practice
that an operation owner pays a tribute to the tribal authorities in the villages, usually
some percentage of the earnings. This rule also applies to non-Maroon outsiders, such
as Brazilian miners who have been coming to the country's gold fields in large numbers
since the 1990s - they usually pay 10% of the produce to the village elders.
In 1994, the Suriname state granted the Canadian exploration firm, Golden Star
Resources, exclusive rights to the 17,000 hectare Gros Rosebel concession that overlaps
the Nieuw Koffiekamp territory. This precipitated two conflicts: first, the village was
located centrally in the concession and the villagers were never consulted or even
informed (Heemskerk and van der Kooye 2003); and second, a considerable number
of small-scale gold miners were active in the area, the majority of whom came from
outside of Nieuw Koffiekamp. Tensions increased when Golden Star Resources asked
the miners to leave the concession (Healy 1996). By formal law the company had the
right to send the miners away, and even the right to mine under the village. However,
in an effort to avoid humanitarian problems, the government and the company tried
to negotiate. The commencement of negotiations was followed by alternating periods
of peace and conflict. By the end of 1994, in an effort to settle the conflict for good,
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