Former ambassador
Christio Wijnhard
Ambassador since 2020
Journalist, columnist and host of the Busi Taki web series. As an ambassador he led the Tiny Food Gardens for children's homes, the Plastic Footprint programme with UNICEF, and Suriname's first food forest.
Follow Christio Wijnhard
“I believe we can develop our country without the destruction of nature”
Efforts
What Christio Wijnhard has done with Forest93, project by project.
Active
Suriname's first food forest
Initiator and project lead
Came up with the idea of a food forest with a social purpose, found a plot for it through entrepreneur Andrew Baasaron, and leads the learning programme in which the children of Children's Home Riyos learn to grow and care for the trees.
- Food security
- Youth
Completed
The first Forest93 Ambassador Trip, to Kwamalasamutu
Writer
Learned about indigenous heritage from the stories shared by the Tarëno tribe.
- Culture & arts
- Awareness
Ongoing
Keep Suriname Green
Journalist and presenter
One of the eight ambassadors in the campaign's awareness film, calling on Suriname to keep the country green.
- Awareness
Completed
Plastic Footprint Change Agents, with UNICEF
Coordinator
Coordinated the Forest93 activities with the Plastic Footprint Change Agents, who ran 26 awareness sessions and visited 18 primary and middle schools across 4 districts.
- Youth
- Education
- Awareness
- Environment
Completed
Tiny Food Gardens for children's homes
Project coordinator
Accepted the Fernandes Bottling Company donation in February 2023 and used it to continue and coordinate the gardens: 53 tiny food gardens for 6 homes in 4 districts, plus a train-the-trainer programme for the young people living there.
- Food security
- Youth
- Education
Completed
Busi Taki
Host and researcher
Hosts the series and researches every topic: in his first vlogs, what forest is and why the coast needs mangroves; in season 5, what politicians, business leaders, the government and the judiciary think about keeping Suriname green.
- Awareness
About Christio Wijnhard
Christio Wijnhard is a journalist and columnist, known for his Monsieur Jeanette column in Suriname’s newspaper De Ware Tijd and his monthly columns in the European magazine DreamzWorld. He is also the host of the Busi Taki web series.
Christio was born in Suriname but raised in the Netherlands. In 2013 he moved back to live in Paramaribo. It was a conscious choice: to experience Suriname as an adult, and to learn from and support the development of this young nation. He started working with young adults, because they represent the country’s future.
In Suriname he rediscovered the innate power of nature. Christio realised that the only constant in life is nature, provided that we do our part to take care of it. He was driven by one question: how would our young people live when their natural habitat is gone? That is why he concentrates on raising awareness of the value and importance of nature for everybody, here and abroad. He strongly believes that when we take care of nature, nature will take care of us.
Busi Taki
Christio joined the Green Growth Champions programme of the Green Growth Suriname Foundation in 2020, and became the host of the Forest93 spin-off web series Busi Taki. In the series he researches ideas around nature and nature’s impact on daily life. In his search for information, he regularly finds that the scientific knowledge of today resembles the stories his indigenous grandparents shared with him as a child.
Social organiser
Christio loves working with vulnerable groups and children. Under the Forest93 programme he spearheaded the Tiny Food Gardens for children’s homes, coordinated the climate action awareness programme with the Plastic Footprint Change Agents together with UNICEF, and established Suriname’s first food forest. He is an avid writer, always keen to share his knowledge on the connection between people and nature.
