Philip Fearnside, a biologist who studies the relationship between human activities, such as agriculture, and the protection of tropical forests, says that soy production threatens the Amazon forest.
Award-winning photojournalist James Whitlow Delano reports on China's expansion into the South American country of Suriname.
As Chinese people migrate in large numbers to Suriname in search of economic prosperity, Suriname citizens begin to resent the newcomers.
James Whitlow Delano travels to Bensdorp, a boomtown in Suriname, home to the indigenous Ndyuka, Brazilian prospectors and Chinese merchants. Gold is the preferred currency here.
Suriname and its pristine environment have become pawns in a new diplomatic Great Game in the Americas as power shifts from the United States toward China.
Chinese families are migrating to Suriname in large numbers—incurring debts, working for low wages. Will this new trend and their indentured labor signal a shift in the Americas' balance of power?
Tomorrow, my dad and I will be on our way back home from Suriname. Lots of mixed emotions as we leave. Dad tonight described the trip, the time here together, as "a gift" — and it was — but there's also no denying the difficulty that Suriname faces as a country. I wish we could offer up easy solutions, but I'm afraid there are none.
Well, I was planning to sit down and write a bit of background on the little bat that we're after down here in Suriname--about the fact that only ten specimens have ever been caught (four by my dad or his teams), about the interesting rarity of this species and the delicate ecosystem of the Guiana Shield--all in preparation for talking with the local officials tomorrow at STINASU and the governmental division Nature Conservation....
We got into Suriname right on time last night, though that was almost two hours earlier than originally scheduled, thanks to the air traffic controllers strike. We were the only plane on the runway, but they still parked us on the far side of the tarmac, so we all trekked across like a string of ants toward the glowing green neon sign: "Johan Adolph Pengel Airport." We caught our shuttle outside of baggage claim and drove toward Paramaribo.
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