The work of Nepal Water Initiative is meant to support the persistence of critical ecosystems and fisheries to ensure that Nepal’s local communities thrive.
We collect data using community-integrative methods–such as Participatory Mapping, Surveys/Questionnaires; Focus Group Discussions; and Key Informant Interviews–in order to assess community perceptions and practices to inform policies on community-based water resource management and conservation.
We document and map local ecological knowledge on issues of watershed management, conservation, and livelihood improvement. We identify issues, challenges, and resilience to developmental infrastructures like hydropower dams. We assess freshwater fisheries and their role in local livelihoods. Photo: NWI team members and students with key informants after interview, Bardiya, Nepal. May 2023
The NWI believes that conservation strategies are not built solely on robust science but also depend on social support from people who value lands and waters for deeply rooted cultural and spiritual reasons.
Understanding local religious and cultural values, perceptions, and traditions is crucial to conservation efforts of natural resources in Nepal because such understanding gives rise to appropriate institutions and organizations for cooperative resource management and provides the context for effective messaging and symbols for environmental efforts in Nepalese society.
Photo: Maha Kumbh Mela, Baraha Kshetra, Koshi River, May 2024.
With all this in mind, the NWI uses ethnographic research to document and understand indigenous ecological knowledge and the cultural and spiritual significance of water Nepal as expressed in place-based spiritual practice, lived ritual, material culture, and discursive traditions (e.g. stories, songs, philosophy). Our goal is to raise awareness of and utilize place-based spiritual and cultural connections between communities and their natural environment to embody and foster environmentally sustainable decisions and practices.
Photo: Ruru (Ridi) Dham, Palpa District, Kali Gandaki & Ridi Khola Confluence, May 2023.