{"id":192883,"date":"2026-10-05T07:58:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T10:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/?p=192883&preview=true&preview_id=192883"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T00:35:43","slug":"simons-no-large-scale-agriculture-at-the-expense-of-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/simons-no-large-scale-agriculture-at-the-expense-of-rainforest\/","title":{"rendered":"Simons: no large-scale agriculture at the expense of rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-text\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenniferSimonsSuriname\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">President<\/a> Jennifer Simons opposes the clearing of primary rainforest for large-scale agriculture by Mennonites in Suriname&#8217;s interior. On Sunday, October 4, she said in the radio programme Welingelichte Kringen that agricultural development must take place on available agricultural land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap \" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; border-color: #ffffff;\">\u201cI<\/span>t is essentially about ensuring that the primary Amazon rainforest is not cleared for large-scale agriculture. I am against that,\u201d the head of state said. She was referring to the settlement of Mennonites in, among other places, the Tibiti region and Bantipasi.<\/p>\n<p>According to Simons, alternative land is available, including in Saramacca, where agriculture can be practised without damaging the rainforest. \u201cIf there are people who want to help cultivate it, I have no objection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The president stated that Mennonites generally want to isolate themselves and therefore choose forest areas for settlement. She stressed that she would oppose the deforestation that accompanies this.<\/p>\n<p>According to Simons, the government has ordered the Mennonites involved, by means of a bailiff&#8217;s writ, to immediately cease their agricultural and construction activities and leave the areas. Persons without valid residence status have, according to her, been handed over to the judiciary for further action.<\/p>\n<p>The president further said that Mexico and Bolivia have been informed that travellers from those countries can no longer enter temporarily with a tourist card and must apply for a visa from now on. She expects greater clarity on the further approach within two to three months.<\/p>\n<p>Simons also stressed that the current government has not entered into a public-private partnership with Mennonites or <a href=\"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/environmental-organisations-warn-of-deforestation-due-to-braganza-agricultural-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Braganza<\/a>. Existing land allocations and contracts will, according to her, be reviewed when the conditions are not met.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith everything within my power, I will oppose the clear-cutting of the forest and the interior,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Simons opposes the clearing of primary rainforest for Mennonite agriculture and stresses that development may take place only on available agricultural land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":192823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_29234516172805655_1309923202201307":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1158244960706604":"","facebook_29234516172805655_1093738170500407":"","facebook_29234516172805655_108923581283702":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16342],"tags":[23446,21980,23444,20610,23445],"class_list":["post-192883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-agricultural-and-construction-activities","tag-braganza","tag-large-scale-agriculture","tag-mennonites","tag-rainforest"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192938,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192883\/revisions\/192938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keynews.sr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}