Biswane Margriet, Chief of the Indigenous village Alfonsdorp, Albina, Suriname (South-America)

About Biswane Margriet, Chief of the Indigenous village Alfonsdorp, Albina, Suriname (South-America)

The Indigenous village Alfonsdorp is one of 8 Indigenous villages located in the Marowijne district, Suriname which includes the traditional territories of the Kaliña and Lokono peoples. The 8 villages are represented through their village councils by their organisation of Kaliña and Lokono in Marowijne (KLIM). The main goal of KLIM at the national level is to achieve legal recognition of Indigenous lands and resources, and to collectively manage and develop the Indigenous territory in Marowijne. KLIM is represented on the ASI Standards Committee by Louis Biswane, where he has actively participated for several years. Chief Margriet Biswane from Alfonsdorp has been a strong advocate for her people and provides further representation of Indigenous peoples Marowijne district to the ASI Standards Committee. After the discovery of the Moengo bauxite hills in 1915 the company now known as Alcoa started mining for bauxite. In December of 2015, after 100 years, Alcoa announced that the supplies of bauxite were running out so they announced they were shutting everything down and pulling out.

Biswane Margriet, Chief of the Indigenous village Alfonsdorp, Albina, Suriname (South-America), has joined ASI because the Kaliña and Lokono peoples in the Marowijne district want to play an active and collaborative role in the mine rehabilitation ongoing process of their lands impacted by bauxite mining operations and establish livelihoods that will see them prosper into the future.

- Margriet Biswane, Chief of Indigenous village Alfonsdorp