News

Nepal: mountain people “neglected”

09.05.2012

Activists and experts stress how the needs of millions of indigenous mountain people across Nepal are overlooked, imperiling their food security and hindering their economic progress. In assessing the government-administered Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) of 2003/2004, the authors of a recent study on mountain poverty, noted that 40 percent of the 12 million people living in the mountainous and hilly regions of Nepal were below the poverty line (US$91per year), compared to a national average of 31 percent of 29 million people. In addition to the problems common to all mountain people such as less access to safe drinking water, electricity, health, education, and livelihood support, distance from markets and roads, Nepalese mountain people have been forcibly migrated by the Nepalese government, as a result of reforestation and conservation policies. Furthermore, indigenous groups were not consulted in the writing of the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to Climate Change, despite their increasing vulnerability to erratic weather patterns.

 

Photo (c) G.Diana / FAO

 

Home > mountain-partnership > News