On 6 and 7 November 2025, the Maripasoula Town Hall hosted the second edition of the COTTICA platform, a space for dialogue and joint work between France and Suriname dedicated to the shared management of water resources in the Maroni River Basin.
Sixty participants — elected officials, institutions, and technical stakeholders from Suriname and French Guiana — gathered to exchange with customary authorities and local populations on water management issues in the Upper Maroni.
At the heart of a river basin with rich biodiversity and great cultural diversity, the main concerns highlighted by local stakeholders were:
- The health and survival of the populations and ecosystems of the Maroni River Basin are interconnected. They face serious danger due to increasing human pressures on water resources (illegal gold mining and the presence of heavy metals in the environment, particularly in fish consumed by the population, solid waste accumulation, and riverbank use in general).
- Climate change is generating major challenges for the transboundary river basins of the Guiana Shield. Water resources are the main vector of these impacts, with droughts and floods affecting the daily lives of the population (risks, transport, supply of isolated areas, agriculture and food security, and impacts on essential services including drinking water).
The COTTICA platform in Maripasoula followed the first edition held in Grand Santi and Stoelmanseiland in March 2025, and has been implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Franco-Surinamese Administrative Arrangement signed on 1 November 2024 in Paramaribo.
On the eve of COP 30, this COTTICA platform also made it possible to prepare joint territorial messages. With this in mind, the meeting brought together a large delegation of institutional stakeholders from both countries, including:
- Mr. Anelli, Mayor of Maripasoula
- Mr. de Lacoste, French Ambassador to Suriname
- Ms. Pompili, French Ambassador for the Environment
- Ms. Deel, Consul General of Suriname in French Guiana
- Ms. Asadang, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Suriname
- Ms. Tani, Territorial Councilor of the Territorial Collectivity of French Guiana (CTG)
- Mr. Deie, Vice-President of the Western Guiana Community of Municipalities (CCOG), Mayor of Papaïchton, President of the Guiana Amazonian Park (PAG)
- Samanian Djo, Aluku customary representative
- Patrick Twenké, Wayana Grand Man, Taluen
- Mr. Lecante, President of the Water and Biodiversity Committee (CEB)
- Ms. Inimod, Director From the French Guiana Water Authority
- Mr. Lacoste, Director of the Guiana Amazonian Park
- Mr. Eric Tardieu, Director General of the International Office for Water
- Mr. Bhaggoe, BIO-PLATEAUX focal Point in Suriname, at the Ministry of Public Works
- Mr. Chow-Toun, BIO-PLATEAUX focal point at the French Guiana Water Office