Saamaka Tribe Maps Ancestral Lands to Guard Amazon from Logging

Deep in Suriname's Amazon rainforest, the Saamaka people are taking action to protect their ancestral territory. Using GPS devices, satellite images, and on-foot patrols, they are documenting every inch of land that outsiders threaten to destroy.

Navaldo Vola, a 31-year-old Saamaka man, recently led a group through sweltering heat and swarms of insects up a forested mountain. There, they discovered a massive abandoned excavator left behind by loggers. Just days earlier, the team had found a makeshift camp at the base of the mountain, complete with masala powder and soy sauce bottles, signs pointing to Chinese loggers.

This kind of evidence is becoming key. As roads, logging, and gold mining push deeper into Saamaka land, communities are fighting back with modern tools. They hope the proof will finally secure government recognition of their traditional forest management system.

Nearly two decades ago, an international court ordered Suriname to recognize Saamaka collective land rights. But that ruling still hasn't been fully honored. Last year, Suriname promised to protect 90% of its tropical forests, possibly including legal recognition of Indigenous and tribal lands.

The Saamaka are one of six groups in Suriname descended from escaped African slaves. They settled deep in the forest in the 17th and 18th centuries and won autonomy in 1762. Today, about 60,000 Saamaka live in Suriname, managing their forests through traditional clan agreements.

They've launched a mapping project called Apaki, named after a calabash container used to store food. The goal is simple: show the world what's at stake before it's too late. Since 2001, Suriname has lost nearly 154,000 hectares of forest in tribal areas alone.