Indigenous legal expertise, sacred rivers, and hydropower development projects in Third Pole country Nepal Articles uri icon

publication date

  • January 2024

start page

  • 277

end page

  • 296

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 14

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0975-2498

abstract

  • While Indigenous expertise, values and knowledge systems have become a buzzword in academic and policy debates about climate change, sustainable development, and the protection of ecosystems, this research note turns the lens to Indigenous legal expertise used by Indigenous lawyers in Nepal in the defence of Indigenous peoples' rights regarding the construction of dams and transmission line projects. Drawing on preliminary insights of legal anthropological research in Nepal, the research note intends to add an additional analytical lens to the emerging concept of cultural expertise of Indigenous knowledge embedded in Indigenous human-water-life ontologies.

subjects

  • Anthropology
  • Law

keywords

  • nepal; indigenous lawyering; indigenous water ontologies; indigenous peoples' rights; hydro development projects