SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY For the communities of Powakka, Philipusdorp (Kl. Powakka), Redi Doti, Cassipora, and Pierre Kondre Kumbasi - Produced as part of the Sabajo ESIA  

SUMMARY:

This Cultural Resources Survey provides an overview of socioeconomic conditions and cultural resources in five indigenous communities in East Para district, in the context of the ESIA study for Newmont Suriname’s Sabajo project. Data were collected through desk research, the analysis of an existing household survey data set for the listed communities, and brief community consultations.

Historic records suggest that the Lokono and Kaliña indigenous peoples moved into the present-day East Para region in the early 17th century, to keep at a distance from the plantations that were established in the coastal area. Cassipora and Pierre Kondre Kumbasi are the oldest indigenous communities in this area. Pierre Kondre Kumbasi and Redi Doti are Kaliña communities, while Powakka, Philipusdorp and Cassipora are Lokono communities. Nowadays, the population is more ethnically diverse; 45 percent of Pierre Kondre Kumbasi inhabitants are mixed Kaliña-Lokono, and in Redi Doti almost half of the population is mixed with non-indigenous. In the most isolated and traditional community of Cassipora, three quarters of inhabitants continue to selfidentify as “pure” Lokono. The indigenous communities do not have formal rights to the land they traditionally live on and use. All communities have community forest concessions for the purpose of timber production, though not all are exploited. Commercial agriculture is mostly performed on land assigned by the traditional authorities.