ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the protected area approach to nature conservation has resulted in environmental injustice to Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Nepal. Taking two protected area cases from lowland Nepal, the chapter examines the experiences of indigenous communities whose history and co-existence predate the creation of these conservation enclosures. We found that the discourses of conservation, megafauna, and ecological crises that permeate through a network of powerful global-national actors including ruling elites shaped the creation and management of PAs in Nepal. These discourses legitimized the imposition of protection and sustenance of coercive conservation resulting in the state’s spatial control, exclusion, and marginalization of Indigenous Peoples, their knowledge and livelihoods. The wave of participatory conservation approaches came with a promise of resolving all social issues around conservation and resulted in increased communication and frank discussions. However, participatory conservation failed to embrace indigenous knowledge and worldviews, and falls short of a new conservation paradigm. We argue that despite changing conservation discourses, as we shift away from the protectionist paradigm toward participatory conservation, globally and nationally, the knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples are still undervalued or peripheral to mainstream conservation discourses and practices. The equal footing of diverse knowledge systems and practices, productive dialogues, and partnerships between them are postulated for sustainable, just, and equitable conservation.
