CIERP Alumni Perspectives: A Conversation with Niermala Badrising, Surinamese Ambassador to the U.S.
Ambassador Badrising, the Former Surinamese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, shares highlights of a 34-year career in high-level civil service.
By Emily Dahl
While Ambassador Niermala Badrising F’07 has commanded a presence at international venues from the UN General Assembly to the Summit of the Americas, one of the experiences she considers most meaningful was serving as Suriname's signatory to the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP21, in 2015.
Amb. Niermala Badrising, credit: Organization of American States
"It was a remarkable experience not only because my country was one of the first signatories, but also because it put Suriname into the spotlight as the greenest nation on Earth, with its pristine forests covering over 93 percent of its territory, and as a country with a unique biodiversity,” says Ambassador Badrising, adding, “Suriname, which is one of only three carbon-negative countries in the world, serves as an important global carbon sink. As a high-forest, low-deforestation country, Suriname plays an important role in addressing climate change.”
Ambassador Badrising's dedication to environmental issues spans her service in the administrations of four consecutive Presidents of Suriname in different executive and diplomatic positions. Her career has been shaped by a culturally sensitive approach to international diplomacy and an ability to convene stakeholders to advance progress on complex challenges.
At the start of her career, after earning her law degree from Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Ambassador Badrising served as a civil servant in Suriname’s Foreign Ministry. As part of her work and responsibilities, she attended numerous world summits in the 1990s, including the International Conference on Population and Development, World Conference on Women, and environmental conferences around the Rio Summit. After several years of involvement, she realized she was interested in learning more about the theory behind the practice of international development in which she was already so immersed. She went to the Netherlands’ Institute of Social Studies for a master’s degree in international development, where she got her first introduction to international environmental politics—creating a thesis on the politics of forestry planning with Suriname as a case study. In doing so, she was a pioneer in more ways than one, making her way in this new field while also raising her young son as a full-time master’s student at a time when few of her fellow students had children accompanying them during intensive studies.
Upon finishing her studies and returning to Suriname, Ambassador Badrising was offered a job in the President’s Office in 1998, where as the Chief Advisor for International Affairs to the President, she established the Department for International Affairs and handled a wide range of development-related and foreign policy issues, for which her previous experience had prepared her well.
Although it was initially difficult to make inroads as a female decision maker within the President’s Office and in a patriarchal cultural setting, with support that included President Jules Wijdenbosch’s confidence in her abilities, she persevered and became an influential figure in the execution of the foreign policy of her country.
After a change in government in 2010, Ambassador Badrising agreed to incoming President Ronald Venetiaan’s request to remain in her role as the Chief Advisor for International Affairs. Several years later and after re-election of the President, she took a sabbatical to attend to Fletcher for a mid-career master’s degree in international relations.
At Fletcher, through classes with Professors Diana Chigas and Eileen Babbitt, whom she considers valued mentors, Ambassador Badrising began to focus on the theoretical and analytical aspects of international negotiations and conflict prevention and resolution.
She credits Fletcher’s unique curriculum and facilities as well as its top-notch faculty with helping her cultivate in-depth knowledge of the nuances and politics and practice of international negotiations in different settings, “especially for understanding the kind of work that you need to put into becoming a successful, trusted, and respected negotiator,” she says. Ambassador Badrising was already skilled in the practice of negotiation through her work, but her Fletcher experience helped her bring even more analytical expertise to the negotiating table.
Toward the end of her time at Fletcher, Ambassador Badrising became involved with an effort through the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) to conduct an international forest negotiation simulation and help negotiate a sustainable forest financing mechanism, led by the Netherlands. The Dutch, who were leading the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), were looking for a highly forested country to help launch the initiative. Suriname, with over 93 percent forested land, fit the bill. Given her government role and experience with Suriname’s forestry policies, Ambassador Badrising proposed Suriname as the host of the first UNFF event in the country and with President Venetiaan’s approval, the Country-Led Initiative on Financing for Sustainable Forest Management, also known as the Paramaribo Dialogue, was held in September 2008. At the President’s request, Ambassador Badrising led and organized the conference on behalf of Suriname, convening more than 225 participants from governments, IGOs, and NGOs around the world for the event.
"The Fletcher School and CIERP helped to create awareness of the exceptional forests and environmental policies of Suriname, and enhanced the country’s role in international environmental diplomacy,” Ambassador Badrising says. “Suriname gradually became a recognized player in international environmental politics and as a Caribbean and South American nation, it fulfilled an important role in climate change negotiations as part of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Alliance of Small Island States (SIDS),the G-77 & China, and other states and groups.”
Mieke van der Wansem, Associate Director for Educational Programs at CIERP, says, “We were very fortunate to have Ambassador Badrising work with us on this high-level initiative. With her knowledge and experience, she was the perfect link between the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, the government of Suriname, and CIERP here at Fletcher.”
As part of the Statement of Suriname, high-level dignitaries presented the results of the Country-Led Initiative at COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, as well as other international conferences on international environmental issues––in coordination with Fletcher, CIERP, and the representatives of the Netherlands.
“Together, we set the standard for the development of a forest financing mechanism with the results of the Country-Led Initiative of Suriname”
She continued to serve under President Venetiaan, and when President Dési Bouterse was elected in 2015, she was asked to continue to serve in the Office of the President. Within one year, she was appointed as an Ambassador with a coveted post in Washington, D.C.––becoming the first woman to serve as the Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Suriname to the Organization of American States (OAS), with co-accreditations to the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.
After a term in D.C., she was appointed as Suriname’s Foreign Minister (the equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of State) in August 2015. Following this post, she was appointed as Suriname’s Ambassador to the U.S., as well as her country’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, a post she held from 2017 through October 2021.
As part of her role, she has continued leading on environmental issues, including convening high-forest, low-deforestation (HFLD) countries for the First International Conference on Climate Finance for HFLD Countries in Paramaribo, Suriname, in February 2019, resulting in the “Krutu of Paramaribo Joint Declaration” to foster collaboration among the countries and express their aims of accessing climate finance through the Green Climate Fund and other mechanisms. (“Krutu” is a Surinamese word for “solemn gathering.”)
Throughout Ambassador Badrising’s career, she has had the opportunity to travel extensively on behalf of her country. Her upbringing and affinity with cultural diversity and multiculturalism, has instilled her with a sense of cultural empathy; in each new place, she always tries to visit two places: the main place of worship and the central market. “It is your first way to connect with the culture and the people of the country, and it makes you realize how interconnected we are,” she says, adding, “I’ve always liked to connect with people.”
The experience of serving as a representative of her country has shown her the importance of not only being well educated in relevant fields of study, but in making personal connections, in the languages of the countries she visits whenever possible. (In addition to Suriname’s official language of Dutch, Ambassador Badrising speaks English, Hindi, the Surinamese dialect of Sranan Tongo, and Spanish.)
Ambassador Badrising finds that these gestures are a valuable way to show people “that you respect their culture and are willing to adapt, even if just for a few days, to their specific norms and values.”
“People open up to you when they know that you are open to their culture,” she says. And likewise, she adds, “Showing empathy for people’s stories, needs, and concerns helps create a necessary level of trust in any endeavor.”
In October 2021, Ambassador Badrising demitted Office and retired after 34 years of dedicated civil service. She resides in Washington, D.C., and is embarking upon new challenges in her professional life, part of which is still dedicated to international environmental diplomacy, including climate change endeavors.∎
Emily Dahl is a MGA student at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
This is the second post of the Women’s History Month blog series. Read the first post here.