‘Every day I see land disappear’: Suriname’s battle to keep sea at bay | Environment News

Suriname, South America’s smallest country, is one of the most vulnerable in the world to rising sea levels.

Nearly seven out of 10 people in the former Dutch colony of 600,000 inhabitants live in low-lying coastal areas, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Every day I see a piece of my land disappear,” said Gandat Sheinderpesad, a 56-year-old farmer who has lost 95 percent of his smallholding to the sea.

Local authorities have for years been…