All That Glitters is Gold: Laundering Gold at the Expense of the Surinamese Amazon

• In Event: Greenlaundering, Joint Crime Ventures and Environmental Harm

Abstract

Suriname is home to many natural resources, but one is by far the most requested one: gold. It takes a prominent position in the country's national economy; gold is responsible for 90% of Suriname’s total exports. Although the gold sector has socio-economic advantages, this sector comes with two main issues from the scope of this research. First, gold mining threatens Suriname’s nature. Suriname is situated in the Guyana Shield region and comprises 93% forest cover. However, deforestation rates in this pristine and biodiverse rainforest are increasing rapidly. Also, mercury and cyanide use poses risks to the environment. Second, Suriname is known to have corrupt government officials who have ties to gold mining. For this reason, bringing about (environmental) change in the gold sector is a challenge. As gold prices skyrocket to 90,000 euros per kilogram, we should investigate the link between gold mining and corrupt government officials. To do so, my fieldwork centres around the gold supply chain within Suriname. I aim to uncover what part of the gold chain lacks transparency and what this means for the environment. This qualitative research departs from a green criminological and eco-justice approach to answer the following research question: How and why do joint crime ventures launder natural resources and what is the environmental impact? I conducted semi-structured interviews and participant observations to study the relevance of the green laundering model and the concepts of state corporate crime and resource curse in the gold mining sector in Suriname. Preliminary results from my first fieldwork trip suggest a substantive role of state officials in laundering gold by not attributing funds to relevant ministries, not considering legislative proposals and not complying with or enforcing laws.

Author

• Esmée Stek, Utrecht University