Natural resources: timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite, gold, and small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, iron ore
Land use: arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 96% other: 4% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 600 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment - current issues: deforestation as timber is cut for export; pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: mostly tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development; relatively small population, most of which lives along the coast
@Suriname:People
Population: 431,303 (July 2000 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 32% (male 70,871; female 67,466) 15-64 years: 62% (male 137,209; female 131,905) 65 years and over: 6% (male 10,907; female 12,945) (2000 est.)