Nepal’s indigenous communities battle hydropower and mining projects to protect ancestral lands

Nepal’s Indigenous peoples are mounting fierce legal and grassroots resistance against infrastructure development projects that threaten their ancestral territories and traditional ways of life. Throughout 2024 and into 2025, communities across the Himalayan nation have filed court cases and organized protests against hydropower plants, cable car installations, and mining operations that they say cause environmental damage and violate their land rights.

The most prominent case involves the Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people, who refiled a writ petition in November 2024 with Nepal’s Supreme Court challenging a hydropower project in their territory. The Indigenous community alleges the company submitted a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and has cut down more trees than permitted since construction began in 2021. The project directly affects three villages—Chyamtang, Ridak, and Thudam—where residents depend on subsistence farming, yak herding, and trading medicinal herbs for survival.

These local struggles reflect a global pattern of Indigenous communities fighting to protect their territories from development projects. At the recent COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, Nepal’s delegation successfully advocated for including mountain ecosystem protections in key agreements, though Indigenous representation at the international talks remained limited.

The conflicts highlight the tension between Nepal’s energy transition goals and Indigenous rights, as communities face displacement, loss of sacred sites, and disruption of their deep spiritual connections to the land. These legal battles and protests represent a critical fight for Indigenous self-determination in one of the world’s most ecologically sensitive regions.