Date: 30 July 2014, 13:00-15:00PM

Speakers:
Dr. Christie Lai Ming LAM, Osaka University
Dr. Saumik Paul, University of Nottingham

Title: The Long-term Effect of Conservation-led Displacement in Nepal:An Anthronomics Approach

Place: AA401, 4th Floor, Research Building #2, Yoshida Main Campus,Kyoto University
http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/access/campus/main.htm
(Building No.34 on the map)

Contact: Tatsuro Fujikura, Department of South Asia and Indian Ocean Studies, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University

fujikura[at]asafas.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Abstract:
The Long-term Effect of Conservation-led Displacement in Nepal: An
Anthronomics Approach

In recent years disputes over the displacement of marginalized
population for the purpose of conservation has created widespread
social and political debates. Literature shows that indigenous
communities worldwide have been increasingly impoverished due to the
loss of access to forest resources and changes in landownership. Can
these displaced communities move out from the poverty cycle? What are
the key factors affect the current welfare status of displaced
communities? How can social scientists capture the dynamic changes
among the displaced communities from the holistic perspective?

The seminar aims to address above questions by sharing our recent
study which uses a mixed method, combining tools from anthropology and
economics, to understand the long-term effects of the extension of the
Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve on Rana Tharus community in Kanchanpur,
Nepal. It also builds on a novel panel data set. The first round,
which was an 18-month long anthropological survey of the indigenous
displaced Rana Tharus community administered between 2004 and 2006,
documented that the conservation-led displacement made the Rana Tharus
community vulnerable to further impoverishment through the following
channels: (a) inadequate land-based compensation policy, (b) depletion
of social safety nets, and (c) deterioration of the traditional
patron-client system. We conducted a second round of survey in 2013
almost nine years after the first round revisiting a majority of the
Rana households who participated in the first round. The long-run
(2000-2013) effects using the longitudinal data show prevalence of
different coping strategies between the displaced and the
non-displaced households. Displaced households experienced livelihood
changes from agricultural work to services at a large number and
almost one-third of them became dependent on remittances due to
emigration of male household members abroad.

To sum up, while displaced households suffered from poor land
productivity and food insecurity in the first five years since
displacement, they appear to be better off today, a decade since
displacement, compared to non-displaced households. However, this has
come at the expense of loosening social ties, more livelihood options
and most importantly an overall deterioration in the socio-cultural
well-being. The mixed methodology helped us understand the causal
links between conservation-led displacement and coping mechanisms over
time. It also provided us with a deeper knowledge of contexts
especially on the social fabrication of the Rana Tharus community.