Environmental Justice in Hydropower Development: Voices of the Marginalized in Nepal

This study critically examines the intersection of environmental justice and hydropower development in Nepal, a country rapidly expanding its hydropower sector under the banner of clean energy and sustainable growth. While large-scale hydropower projects are positioned as solutions to energy scarcity and climate change, they often impose disproportionate costs on marginalized communities, including Indigenous groups, Dalits, and rural households. Using the frameworks of distributive, procedural, and recognition justice, this paper analyzes three major hydropower projects—Upper Karnali, Arun III, and Budhi Gandaki—to explore patterns of displacement, cultural erasure, inadequate compensation, and exclusion from decision-making. Drawing on policy reviews and field narratives, particularly the voices of women and Indigenous people, the study reveals how dominant development narratives obscure deep-seated inequalities and perpetuate structural injustice. The findings call for a rights-based, inclusive, and accountable approach to hydropower planning in Nepal, grounded in the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and meaningful benefit-sharing. The paper contributes to the global discourse on energy justice by centering the lived experiences of those most affected and often least heard.