“MOUNTAINS ARE COMMONS, GRASSES ARE DIVIDED”: INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND DEMOCRACY by PHURWA D. GURUNG M.A., Tribhuvan University, 2018 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Geography 2020 Committee Members: Dr. Emily Yeh Dr. Joe Bryan Dr. Clint Carroll Dr. Mara Goldman ABSTRACT Gurung, Phurwa Dhondup (M.A., Geography) “Mountains are commons, grasses are divided”: Indigenous environmental governance between conservation and democracy Thesis directed by Professor of Geography Dr. Emily T. Yeh This thesis takes a political ecological approach to critically examine what happens when Dolpopa ways of knowing, being and governing their land and territories interact and mingle with state structures of conservation (and democracy) in Northwest Nepal. Through a resource- based approach, it first examines the ways in which state authority emerges and intensifies in Dolpo by discussing the role of Shey Phoksundo National Park in the contested governance of caterpillar fungus (Tib. yartsagunbu) in Dho Tarap valley. It then takes a relationship-based approach to explore alternate ontologies and governance practices of the Dolpopas that are conceived and carried out in their own terms, and that account for the agency of nonhumans and the maintenance of relationships with them. Drawing from three months of ethnographic field research as well as from the author’s engagements with Dolpo community over the past decade, this thesis argues that externally imposed imperatives of conservation materialize on the ground not only as an extractive regime of accumulation of resources like yartsagunbu but also as an emergent structure of dispossession of Dolpopa governance practices and ontologies. At the same time, though, the thesis demonstrates the robustness of Dolpopa governance practices and ontologies as they come into being and sustain themselves vis-à-vis conservation. ༄༅། རི་(ི་རི་)་བགོས་)། གདོད་/ལ་1ལ་མིའི་ཁོར་1ག་དབང་འཛན་ཏེ་;བ་<གས་ཁོར་=ང་དང་བལ་1ལ་དམངས་གཙའི་ལམ་<གས་ལ་བ@ངས་པའི་དོགས་དBོད།། དBད་Cོམ་འདིར་ཆབ་Eིད་Fེས་ཁམས་རིག་པའི་ཐབས་ལམ་བHད་ནས་དོལ་པོ་པའི་འIོ་<གས་འJག་Eོལ་དང་1ལ་<ང་Kིམས་Eོལ་Lིས་མཚན་པའི་རི་<ང་1ལ་ གNམ་ལ་བདག་དོམ་Oེད་<གས་;བ་<གས་ཁོར་=ང་གི་Pོམ་གཞི་དང་འད་འཐབ་འSེས་གNམ་Oེད་Tབས་N་Uང་བའི་གནད་དོན་ལ་དོགས་དBོད་Oས་ཡོད། ཐོན་/ངས་ གཞིར་བཅོལ་Lི་F་ཐིག་ལ་བXེན་ནས་ཐོག་མར་Yལ་གZང་གི་དབང་འཛན་དོལ་པོ་[་མངོན་\ངས་དང་དེའི་དབང་]གས་ཇེ་ཆེ་[་འཕེལ་\ངས་ཤེལ་aགས་གNམ་མདོའི་(ི་bིང་ གིས་མདོ་X་རབ་cི་དOར་)་དdན་འeའི་འIན་Cོད་རང་བཞིན་Lི་བདག་དོམ་ལ་ཐོན་པའི་]གས་fེན་བད་ནས་བIོ་bེང་Oས་ཡོད། དེ་ནས་འgེལ་ལམ་གཞིར་བཅོལ་Lི་F་ ཐིག་ལ་བེན་ནས་ས་གནས་རང་གི་འIེལ་<གས་མཚན་ཐབས་N་གསལ་བའི་དོལ་པོ་པའི་འཇིག་Xེན་འhག་Eོལ་དང་བདག་དབང་འཛན་<གས་ལ་དOེ་ཞིབ་Oས་ཏེ་མི་དང་མི་མ་ ཡིན་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་Lི་ཐོབ་དབང་དང་དེ་གཉིས་བར་Lི་འgེལ་ལམ་Fོང་ཐབས་ལ་ཞིབ་འhག་Oས་ཡོད། j་ངོ་གNམ་རིང་གི་1ལ་དངོས་Xོག་དBོད་དང་Cོམ་པ་པོའི་འདས་ བའི་ལོ་ངོ་བkའི་རིང་གི་དོལ་པོའི་1ལ་lེ་དང་འSེས་པའི་འཚ་བའི་མཉམ་Zགས་ལ་བXེན་ནས་དBད་Cོམ་འདི་ཡིས་mར་འགེལ་རང་བཞིན་Lི་;བ་<གས་ཁོར་=ང་ངམ་ཐོན་ /ངས་གཉེར་=ང་གིས་དོལ་པོའི་1ལ་lེ་ཁག་n་ཐོན་པའི་མངོན་གསལ་Lི་མhག་འgས་ཤིག་ནི་བོགས་ལེན་པའི་བpས་གqགས་ཤིག་ེ་དར་་དdན་འeས་མཚན་པའི་ཐོན་ /ངས་བp་གསོག་Oེད་མཁན་Lི་དབང་འཛན་ལས་/ངས་ཤིག་་མངོན་པར་མ་ཟད། ཁོར་=ང་ཐོན་=ང་ནི་Uང་དང་འUང་བཞིན་པའི་དོལ་པོ་པའི་འཇིག་Xེན་འhག་Eོལ་དང་ བདག་དབང་འཛན་<གས་cི་བདག་དབང་འRོག་ལེན་Oེད་ཐབས་cི་Pོམ་གཞི་ཞིག་རེད། Jས་མmངས་N། ཁོར་=ང་ཐོན་=ང་ལ་sོས་ཏེ་དBད་Cོམ་འདི་ཡིས་དོལ་པོ་པའི་འཇིག་ Xེན་འhག་Eོལ་དང་བདག་དབང་འཛན་<གས་cི་གསོན་\ོབས་དང་ཕན་;ས་མངོན་གསལ་Lིས་བ\ན་ཡོད། ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Field research for this thesis was funded by the Solstice Graduate Research Award from the Department of Geography, Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants, and the Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS) Graduate Student Awards from the Graduate School at the University of Colorado Boulder. This thesis would not have been possible without the labor, creative insights, passion and care of many brilliant and generous people. First and foremost, I would like thank my advisor Dr. Emily Yeh who have generously supported and guided me throughout my time at CU Boulder, and whose works inspire me as an aspiring scholar. Dr. Yeh embodies all one could ask for in an advisor. I especially appreciate her consistently prompt yet detailed email replies and feedback. I am also grateful for conversations with and generous comments from my other committee members: Dr. Mara Goldman and Dr. Joe Bryan from Geography, and Dr. Clint Carroll from Ethnic Studies. At CU Boulder, I have benefitted immensely from graduate seminars with Dr. Joe Bryan, Dr. Tim Oakes, Dr. Jennifer Fluri, Dr. Bill Travis, Dr. Mike Dwyer in the Department of Geography, as well as a seminar with Dr. Carole McGranahan in the Department of Anthropology. I am particularly thankful to the participants of a thesis writing group that Dr. Yeh organized who provided valuable comments to the first article: Shae Frydenlund, Xi Wang, Dorjee Tashi, Lin Zhu, Darren Byler. Many thanks to Yuying Ren for helping with the maps presented in this thesis. I am also grateful to Rupak Shrestha, Lin Zhu, Shruthi Jagadeesh, Dorjee Tashi, Diego Melo, Richa Shakya, Ridge Zachary, Neda Shaban, Prakriti Mukherjee, Kripa Dongol, Kylen Solvik, Yuying Ren, Fedor Popov, Caitlin McShane, Tracy Fehr, Somtsobum and other friends in Geography and Tibet Himalaya Initiative (THI) for many conversations we shared and for your friendship throughout our time in Boulder. I am extremely thankful to fellow Dolpopas whose stories and unfinished struggles this thesis only begins to ascertain. I hope this research proves helpful in any way to the community. I am particularly grateful to the support and friendship of Gyalpo and Phurwa from Dho Tarap and Tashi Lama from Phoksundo, as well as Nyima Dorjee, Ngawang Lhundrup and Tsering Samdrup, and all who talked with me and offered many cups of butter tea and home-made barley beer. I am also thankful to the staff at Shey Phoksundo National Park headquarters in Suligad, especially then acting warden Pramod Yadav, Gopal Khanal and Chandra Hamal, as well as to the Direct General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in Kathmandu, for their interviews and/or providing helpful information about the park. Views expressed and any errors are my own. Finally, I am forever grateful to my parents, Nyima and Kunzom, as well as my sister, Lhamo, who has supported the field research of this thesis and beyond like a mother. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to express my immense gratitude to Action Dolpo and its founder Marie Claire Gentric without whose vision, generosity and commitment, I would not have made this far to graduate school in the first place. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………...1 2. Historical background of Dolpo…………………………………………………6 3. State restructuring, democracy, and indigeneity in Nepal………………………10 4. Methodology……………………………………………………………………15 II. DISPOSSESSING WHILE DECENTRALIZING: PARTICIPATORY CONSERVATION AS AN EMERGENT STRUCTURE OF DISPOSSESSION 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………18 2. Protected areas in perspective…………………………………………………21 3. Political ecology of participatory conservation………………………………..23 i. Shey Phoksundo National Park (SPNP)……………………………… 26 ii. SPNP Buffer Zone……………………………………………………..31 4. Caterpillar fungus governance in Dho Tarap………………………………….37 i. Maoist control (2003–2006)…………………………………………...39 ii. Local control (2007–2013)…………………………………………….40 iii. National Park control (2014–present)………………………………….46 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..49 III. “MOUNTAINS ARE COMMONS, GRASSES ARE DIVIDED”: INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL ONTOLOGY IN DOLPO 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………55 2. Seeing like a conservationist…………………………………………………..60 3. Indigenous environmental governance………………………………………...75 i. skya khrims: Sealing the valley………………………………………..77 ii. sngo khrims: Sealing the mountains…………………………………...79 4. Political ontology………………………………………………………………82 i. bstan skor: A ritual to bring rain and harvest………………………….83 ii. Founding myths, sacred geographies and reverse conservation……….94 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………102 IV. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………….105 V. REFERENCES………………………………………………………………….…….111 VI. APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………..119 1. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval letter……………………….…...119 2. Verbal consent form in Tibetan………………………………........................120 3. Semi-structured interview aide-mémoire………………………………..…...122 4. Research permit from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Babarmahal, Kathmandu, Nepal……………………...…........123 5. Research permit from Shey Phoksundo National Park, Suligad, Dolpa..........125 iv LIST OF MAPS Map 1. Dolpo in the context of protected areas in Nepal…………………………………………7 Map 2. Map of Dolpo showing the overlapping boundaries of Shey Phoksundo National Park(SPNP) and its Buffer Zones with Shey Phoksundo and Dolpo Buddha Rural Municipalities………………………………………………………….......7 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS APF Armed Police Force BZMC Buffer Zone Management Committee CDO Chief District Officer CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement DBRM Dolpo Buddha Rural Municipality DG Director General DNPWC Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation ICCA Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas ICDP Integrated Conservation and Development Program ILO 169 International Labor Organization’s The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 NP Nepal Police