To create the Guide, meetings were held with diverse communities to align around core content. Representatives of Indigenous peoples offered their initial written consent and proposed participants, who continued to engage as a sign of continuing consent to the project. While preparing the Guide, Consultations were held at the local, provincial, and government levels. In addition, a national workshop was organized in Kathmandu, at which the final document was reviewed and revised. As a result, the Guide was approved and socialized in 2023 and began to operate as a practical tool for strengthening governance.
At its core, the Guide seeks to enable Indigenous communities to modify or stop conservation planning that may have detrimental impacts on people or resources within their territory, guaranteeing them rights to self-determination in the context of their unique cultures and traditional areas. It calls for the participation of women, men, elders, community leaders, and others who wish to engage in defining the goals of projects that impact them. The Guide clarifies that communities should be involved from start to finish and that the actions developed should seek to promote equitable benefits from conservation. Further, the Guide aims to facilitate knowledge exchange with those who have been the ancestral stewards of Nepal’s natural riches and to incorporate their worldviews and traditions into decision-making.
WWF Nepal has also adopted the Guide as a requirement for intervention, meaning that the organization will not promote or support any initiative that could affect Indigenous community rights and areas without ensuring continuing consent. Like the government, WWF Nepal has long been committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ right to FPIC and this Guide strengthens the organization’s ability to systematically realize that commitment.
Bivishika Bhandari, WWF Nepal's gender equity and social inclusion specialist, highlights that the Guide encourages the government and other actors, like WWF, to maintain an open and reciprocal dialogue with communities. "We can open discussion again on any issue if someone disagrees,” she explains. “Decisions can change at any time during the implementation of a project."
With the development of this tool complete, the challenge ahead is to ensure its consistent and robust application. Beyond the government of Nepal, the Guide will be made accessible to all duty-bearers, as well as stakeholders like private companies and non-governmental organizations, to support them in effectively seeking the consent of Indigenous communities in the areas they work.
WWF Nepal plans to continue to work with NFDIN to translate the tool into multiple Indigenous languages. In turn, WWF will continue to partner with NFDIN in an ongoing socialization and capacity-strengthening process with government duty-bearers as well as Indigenous communities around their respective responsibilities and rights, and the existence of this new mechanism for realizing those rights alongside the conservation of critical areas of the Himalaya.