ABSTRACT
Using an environmental justice framework, this chapter analyzes the interconnectedness between landlessness, social and economic inequalities, and disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards on the life and livelihood of Harawa-Charawa, the unfree Dalit agricultural laborers of the southern plains of Nepal. It is often these under-resourced populations in the society that are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards and their impacts. Their lack of financial and social capabilities means they also lag far behind in collective actions in resisting environmental injustice and other forms of discrimination and exploitation. Weaving together a micro-macro context, this chapter provides an assessment of the disproportionate damage and loss caused by environmental hazards as well as allocating the required resources and devising actions to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and ensure justice for Harawa-Charawa. The chapter suggests that Harawa-Charawa, Nepal’s unfree/bonded agricultural laborers, are a distinct and important category of marginalized populations that Environmental Justice studies need to incorporate effectively through the concept of environmentalism of the poor.
