Suriname

A rainforest river winding through dense green jungle in Suriname for an article about Suriname malaria-free certification, for article on dual-insecticide bed nets

Suriname becomes the first Amazon nation certified malaria-free by WHO

By / / Good News For Humankind

Suriname malaria-free certification marks a historic first for the Amazon region, as the World Health Organization officially declared the South American nation free of the disease on June 30, 2025. Suriname became the 46th country worldwide and the first in the Amazon basin to earn this status, completing a decades-long effort that recorded its last locally transmitted case in 2021. The achievement required reaching deeply remote Indigenous and mining communities through trained local health workers and a policy of free treatment regardless of immigration status. That combination of political will, community-centered design, and international support offers a replicable model for neighboring countries still working toward elimination.

Rainforest scene, for article on Suriname Indigenous land rights

Landmark ruling in Suriname grants protections to local and Indigenous communities

By / / Good News For Humankind

Suriname’s Indigenous land rights just got their first real domestic legal footing, with a court blocking agricultural development across roughly 535,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest. Twelve Indigenous and maroon communities brought the case, and for the first time a Surinamese court — not an international body — affirmed that the government must seek free, prior and informed consent before handing over ancestral land. The communities involved include descendants of Africans who escaped colonial plantations and have stewarded these forests for centuries. Suriname remains one of only three countries on Earth that absorbs more carbon than it emits, and protecting these forests helps keep it that way. Domestic rulings tend to stick, offering a model for Indigenous land defenders across the Amazon basin and beyond.