A new hydroelectric project on the Chhujung river risks upending the lives of Nepal's indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people, who are fighting to stop it.
In Nepal a legal battle is unfolding between the indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people and a private company operating in the energy sector. The latter, Sangrila Urja Pvt Ltd, is engaged in the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Chhujung river that risks compromising a highly fragile ecosystem and stripping local communities of their means of subsistence.
The Bhote-Lhomi Singsa have already filed several appeals against the project, accusing the company of failing to involve them in consultations and of having falsified the environmental impact assessment. Even American actor Leonardo DiCaprio has taken a stand in their favour.
Nepal is regarded as one of the great frontiers of hydroelectric energy in Asia. With thousands of rivers and streams descending from the Himalayan mountains, the country has for years been banking on dams and power plants to support economic development and reduce its dependence on foreign energy. But this strategy, backed by domestic and international investors, comes at a cost that falls disproportionately on the indigenous populations of rural and mountain areas.
The indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people who inhabit the Lungbasamba region in north-eastern Nepal know this all too well. Here, the communities of Ridak, Thudam, Chyamtang and other small villages live a subsistence economy sustained by the resources of a profoundly unspoilt territory. Farming, fishing, yak herding and the gathering of medicinal herbs from the forests define the lives of these people, who have also built up a small local trade in their products, chief among them chhurpi cheese. Their ancestral lands are also home to rare and protected animal species such as the red panda, the blue sheep, the Asiatic black bear, the Himalayan goral, the snow leopard, the musk deer and the Himalayan monal. Now a new 63-megawatt hydroelectric project on the Chhujung river risks wiping all of this away.
The company Sangrila Urja Pvt Ltd plans to use 192,000 tonnes of explosives and 188,000 detonators for the construction of the hydroelectric power plant. This is what emerges from the project's environmental impact assessment approved in 2022, which according to the indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa communities contains several falsifications and omissions.
There are allegations of forged signatures and copy-pasting from other projects, to the extent that the names of plants and animals are said to be incorrect and inconsistent with those actually found in the area. The first months of work are also reported to have been marked by night-time raids against the properties of various indigenous communities and the killing of protected animals. The site, where construction has already begun, turns out to be ninety times larger than what is stated in the official documents, and among the rivers affected there is reportedly also the Chhunjam, in addition to the Chhujung. Local communities were never involved in consultations, and only a handful of them are said to have been offered token financial compensation in exchange for expropriation. All of this risks upending the lives and economy of local communities, while also destroying the fragile ecosystem.
In 2024, the indigenous Bhote-Lhomi Singsa people filed a petition against the project. The cause was taken up by American actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who publicly denounced the ongoing assault on a unique and unspoiled territory. Construction has nonetheless continued, as Nepalese judges declined to order a suspension of the works pending an investigation into the local communities' claims. Those communities have now filed a fresh appeal directly with the Supreme Court of Nepal. Sangrila Urja Pvt Ltd has made clear that it has no intention of being stopped by the mobilisation, confirming that completion of the new hydroelectric plant is scheduled for 2028.
