The Polemics and Discourse of Conservation in Nepal: a Case Study of Sonaha Indigenous Minorities and Bardia National Park

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The Polemics and Discourse of Conservation in Nepal: a Case Study of Sonaha Indigenous Minorities and Bardia National Park School of Built Environment Department of Urban and Regional Planning The Polemics and Discourse of Conservation in Nepal: a case study of Sonaha Indigenous Minorities and Bardia National Park Sudeep Jana Thing This Thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University June 2014 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: Date: June 11, 2014 ii Abstract Contestations between indigenous peoples and practices of modern Protected Areas are at the heart of contemporary people-conservation debates globally. This thesis presents an ethnographic investigation into tensions between the Sonaha indigenous minority group, who are the original inhabitants of the lower Karnali river delta, and the management of Bardia National Park, the largest lowland protected area in Nepal. I approach this case study through the frameworks of the political ecology of conservation and social theories of space. This work is a critical ethnography conducted under a qualitative and interpretive research paradigm. I argue that the Sonahas’ marginalisation and, in their terms, unjust separation from their ancestral territory, dismantling of their customary livelihoods without adequate provision of alternatives and other negative consequences resulting from the national park interventions is a case of conservation violence that continues to exist despite recent participatory conservation reforms and initiatives. The discursive creations of the Park and the riverscape in the delta by the various parties and the associated mainstream conservation discourse and practice are considered in an historical perspective, with respect to their implications for the Sonahas. The changing lives of the Sonahas in the Park buffer zone have been shaped by both mainstream conservation discourse and a counter discourse of indigenous peoples’ rights and identity, and by the practices related to these competing discourses. I argue that the hegemonic conservation discourse legitimises and reinforces violence against the Sonaha, through the enclosure of the riverscape by the state, and that it disregards the Sonaha worldview and spatial practices. Sonaha resistance to the Park regime is examined as a struggle for livelihoods through the enactment of cultural politics; and hence, as a site of counter discourse and collective ethnic consciousness. The Sonaha-Park/State authority contestation is also presented as an example of the multidimensional politics of space within which a theoretical link between space-power-discourse and a framework of “biocultural social space” are postulated as potential bases for a just conservation. iii Acknowledgements This thesis is an outcome of cooperation and support from a wide range of people and insitutions directly and indirectly involved in my personal, professional and scholastic journey. I acknowledge roles and engagements of the Sonaha ethnic group inhabiting the lower Karnali River delta and other research participants of my study. My first and foresmost acknowledgement goes to the Sonaha people from the river delta in Bardia; their deceased and living elders; community leaders and activists of Nepal Sonaha Association. I am also thankful to the leaders of Buffer Zone User Committees, officials of the Bardia National Park and the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu. The intellectual research journey and production of this thesis would not have been possible without the persistent inspiration, encouragement, critical comments, expert guidance and editorial inputs of Emeritus Professor Roy Jones, my head supervisor as well as Dr Christina Birdsall Jones, associate supervisor. The thesis benefitted from useful comments and suggestions from the associate superviors, Dr Shaphan Cox and Dr Hemant Ojha. I am thankful to Curtin University for offering me scholarship to undertake a PhD; Office of Research and Development, Humanities Office of Research and Graduate Studies, formerly the Department of Social Sciences and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning for required support during the study period. I thank Open Society Foundations and Curtin University Postgraduate Student Association for partial grants during the research. I am grateful to Nutan Chaudhari; Ram Krishna Tharu, Somat Ghimire, Shiva Raj Bhatta, Dr Uday Raj Sharma, Bishwo Nath Upreti, Prabhu Budhathoki, Jhamak Karki, Saumitra Neupane, staff of Community Development Organization for their cooperation while undertaking the research. I thank Sharad Ghimire and Dr Naya Sharma Paudel for their inputs while envisaging this research; Naya for commenting on the draft Chapter Four; Dr Grazia Borrini Feyerabend for inspiring me to the topic of protected area governance; Amita Bhide of Tata Insitute of Social Sciences, Mumbai for introducing me to Henri Lefebvre’s work on space; Dr Jeevan Raj Sharma for his academic recommendations when needed. Moral support and love of my wife Rika, my mother and family have always been my strength. iv Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... xi List of Maps ............................................................................................................................ xii List of Photos .......................................................................................................................... xii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xiii Glossary (some Nepalese and Sonaha terms) ........................................................................... xv Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Locating, situating and positioning the researcher .................................................................... 2 1.3 Objectives and research questions ............................................................................................ 6 1.3.1 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.3.2 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Navigating the key debates on People and Protected Areas ....................................................... 7 1.4.1 The problematic of nature and nature preservation............................................................. 7 1.4.2 A critique of the protectionist paradigm and intervention ................................................... 9 1.4.3 Indigenous peoples and protected areas ........................................................................... 10 1.4.4 The changing discourses of conservation and protected areas .......................................... 11 1.5 Key debates on people and protected areas in Nepal ............................................................... 16 1.5.1 Park-people conflicts in Nepal ........................................................................................ 16 1.5.2 Protected Areas and their impacts on indigenous peoples in Nepal ................................... 17 1.5.3 Participatory conservation approaches in Nepal ............................................................... 19 1.5.4 Criticisms of Nepalese participatory conservation policies and practices .......................... 21 1.6 The rationale of this study ..................................................................................................... 22 1.7 Thesis Overview ................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Two: Political Ecology and Social Theories of Space; perspectives, concepts and an analytical framework .................................................................28 Part - One ................................................................................................................................... 28 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 28 2.2 The terrain of political ecology .............................................................................................. 28 2.2.1 Criticisms of political ecology......................................................................................... 30 2.2.2 The discursive turn in political ecology ..........................................................................
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