The terms "land cover" and "land use" are often confused. Land cover is "the observed physical and biological cover of the earth's land, as vegetation or man-made features." In contrast, land use is "the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type" (FAO, 1997a; FAO/UNEP, 1999). National categories of land use differ. The land use categories that have been used by Suriname are based on the IPCC classes used for greenhouse gas inventory reporting. These categories can be divided into managed and unmanaged land. The definitions of these land use categories are described in chapter 3 of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The main drivers of deforestations are:

• Mining
• Infrastructure
• Agriculture
• Urbanization