LAND MANAGEMENT

IN SURINAME
The Challenge of
Formulating Land Policy
 • SUMMARY
• INTRODUCTION
• PROFILE OF THE COUNTRY
- Land use: historical profile
- Current land use zones
- Land Registry and Information
THE POLICY DRIVERS
- General policy drivers
- Region specific drivers
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary:
 Suriname land management is based on a regulatory
regime
 The domain principle is the basis of Suriname land
law (confers private ownership of all untitled land to
the State)
 The Government of Suriname wants to retool and
initiate reform in the land management system,
including the introduction of a number of more
liberalized regimes
 New land policy has to be formulated to develop and
support new land management and administration
regimes
Introduction:
 A feasibility study was conducted of the land
management issues in Suriname (extensive diagnoses
identified 25 issues, main report with 34 proposals and
a detailed annex)
 The process of formulating a proposal for the
implementation of a Suriname Land Management P
Program (SLMP) is now underway
 General land management policy directives are
needed to guide this process
 A development cycle that is both comparatively
informed and context sensitive is being designed to
structure this process
Profile of the Country:
 Total population: 440,000
 Land area: 163820 km2
 Inhabitants per km2: 0.38
 Inhabitants per km2 (Paramaribo) 1248
 Inhabitants per km2 (Wanica) 160
 Inhabitants per km2:(Sipaliwini, 80% of area) 0.18
 GDP/per capita: xxx
 Number of households: 120.000
 % growth of population: 2.2%
Historical Profile of Land Use
 Pre 1650 Differentiated by indigenous occupation
 1650 - 1875 Plantation economy based on slavery in
the rural coastal area, indigenous
peoples and escaped slaves occupy the
interior (subsistence farming)
 1875 - 1950 Decline of the plantation economy,
indentured labor to save plantations,
emergence of small-scale farming
on the coast, emergence of extraction
industry (rubber, gold, bauxite) economic
incursions into the interior (bauxite &
timber by river, gold train)
Historical Profile of Land Use
 1950 - 1975 Expansion of bauxite industry,hydro-
electric dam and smelter, emergence
of mechanized agriculture, road
network and timber industry expands,
outboard motor & air service to the
interior areas, peri-urban areas emerge,
consolidation of indigenous settlements,
transmigration enlarges settlements
 1975 - to date Exhaustion of resources near the coast,
further penetration into the interior
(bauxite, timber, construction
sand/gravel), re-emergence gold
industry, peak and decline of large
scale agriculture, more public housing
schemes, peri-urban expansion
Land Use Zones of Suriname:
 Urban land housing, commerce, industry
 Peri-urban Land gardening, animal husbandry,
housing, commerce, industry,
recreation
 Rural Coastal Land large scale farming, mining,
animal husbandry, small scale
farming, gardening, aqua-culture,
industry, housing, commerce, timber,
tourism, conservation land
 Rural-interior Land shifting cultivation, hunting, timber,
mining, gathering, housing, tourism,
conservation land
 TABLE 3: NUMBER OF TENURE TITLES IN SURIANME

District Population Registers Rent Lease Special Total /1000

Paramaribo 233882 68 200 5000 216 5416 23
Wanica 77115 160 4940 10486 351 15777 205
Nickerie 34464 77 1270 4500 220 5990 174
Sipaliwini/ 32735 3 42 45 4 91 3
Brokopondo
Commewijne 22012 34 635 1700 43 2378 108
Para 15375 42 657 1926 96 2679 174
Saramacca 13695 42 600 3400 100 4100 299
Marowijne 13484 12 427 868 91 1386 103
Coronie 2911 9 527 221 21 769 264
Totals 445673 447 9298 28146 1142 38586 150

Street register (part of index to tenure titles) 148069

Number of real titles (zakelijke titels) 28146 1142 29288
Allodial and Absolute ownership 118781
Land Use Information in Suriname:
A project proposal has been approved for the
implementation of a Land Registration and Information
System (LRIS). The project is slated to start soon.
 A decentralized data gathering system will be established with
units in each of the ten districts
 Re-establish a geodetic reference system
 Aerial photography and digital mapping of the coastal zone
 Design/develop a computerized parcel based LRIS
 Establish data sharing platform for cadastre/records registry
 Conduct cadastral surveys
Drivers for Land Policy Reform
 Political drivers
 Legal drivers
 Economic drivers
 Social and cultural drivers
 Environmental and sustainability drivers
Policy Drivers (general):
 Ensure equity and high ethical standards (equal access, no
ethnic targeting)
 Counterbalance for disadvantages caused by historical
circumstances (location advantages/disadvantages)
 The need of the government to fulfill post independence
expectations and electoral platforms
 Ensure both enduring and functional regulatory and compliance
mechanisms
 Land contributes to the development of the country in a manner
that reflects the values and aspiration of the citizens of
Suriname
 Establish and maintain a good land information system
 Lack of consistent, efficient and transparent procedures
Policy Drivers - Urban Land:
 Many vacant lots and abandoned or poorly maintained
structures facilitating crime, squatting etc.
 Lack of comprehensive zoning regulations to avoid conflicts
between residential, commercial, industrial and waste
management use
 Controversial initial allocation of state owned land in very high
value urban zones
 Lack of planning and reserved land to allow for the construction
of belt-ways and other infrastructure to alleviate increasing
traffic congestion and overcrowding
 Lack of strategic land reserves for the government in high value
zones for future use to avoid expensive buy-back acquisitions
Policy Drivers - Peri-Urban Land
 The need to reserve and develop land for low-cost housing
schemes to alleviate the extreme shortage of housing
 Develop legislation and procedures to prevent squatting in low
cost housing schemes and on government land
 Improve parceling regulations for large estates to ensure basic
infrastructure and better compliance with regulations
 Develop and monitor pollution standards for industrial and
agricultural land use and sand extraction
 Reserve land for future use by the government and
infrastructure needs
Policy Drivers - Rural Coastal Land
 The need to improve tenure security and introduce more
fungible titles for land in the agricultural sector
 Resolve land tenure security issues for undivided estates on
former plantations
 The need to harmonize conflicting agricultural, forest, mining,
recreational and tribal land use regimes
 Develop land use schemes for the large areas mined out by the
bauxite industry
 Provide incentives to optimize use of land according to the
potential of said resources
 Ensure improved environmental monitoring and controls in the
agriculture, forestry and mining sectors
Policy Drivers - Rural Interior Land
 Land tenure security for indigenous and Maroon
communities(no legal land management/titling regime)
 The need to harmonize conflicting agricultural, forest, mining,
recreational and tribal land use regimes
 Extensive gold mining pollution
 A high deforestation rate
 The need to develop a feasible and active environmental
monitoring program for the rural-interior area
 Ensure commitment of interior population to conservation lands
through jobs, youth programs and awareness building
Recommendations
 General: Improve allocation procedures, ensure equity, fulfill
expectation and aspirations and secure good land information
 Urban: Ensure equitable allocation, introduce zoning
legislation, ensure optimal land use and land reserves
 Peri-Urban: Reserve land for low cost housing and government
use, avoid squatting, improve parceling
 Rural-Coastal: Improve tenure security, harmonize land use
and ensure sustainable and environmentally sound land use
 Interior: Improve tenure security, harmonize development
regimes, ensure environmentally sound and sustainable land
use