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Nepal's Indigenous Bote community is caught between conservation and survival [1]
['Raj Adhikari']
Date: 2025-07-13
The Botes are an Indigenous community comprising 0.04 percent of Nepal’s total population. For generations, they have lived in close connection with the country’s rivers and streams and earned their livings by fishing in their waters and navigating wooden boats that once transported people and goods. But this centuries-old way of life is now at risk. A moratorium on fishing licenses has restricted their access to natural resources and ancestral rights, leaving them with limited economic opportunities.
Who are the Botes?
The word Bote is believed to derive from Bot (बोट), meaning “tree” in Nepali. Linguists suggest the name originated from their practice of crafting boat paddles from tree branches. Bote communities primarily reside in the districts of Syangja, Gulmi, Palpa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Gorkha, Tanahun, and Baglung. Most Botes do not own land and live on government land.
Based on their ancestral occupations, they are classified as Pani Bote and Pakha Bote. Pani Bote are traditionally boaters and fishers, while Pakha Bote earn their livelihood in agriculture. This article focuses on the Pani Bote, specifically those living along the Rapti River in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park (CNP). Their livelihoods are being reshaped by increasing pressure from conservation laws.
About half a century ago, King Mahendra compelled the Bote community living along the Rapti River to choose between the river and the land. The Botes chose the river, guided by a deep sense of connection to it as a provider. In Chitwan, the Bote community depended on boating and fishing in the Rapti River for their livelihood. Collecting wood from the forests of what is now Chitwan National Park (CNP) and fishing in the river were central to their way of life. They earned their living by ferrying people across the river and selling fish, either fresh or dried, in nearby markets. In this way, the Botes of Chitwan maintained an inseparable bond with the Rapti River.
Conservation vs. Livelihood
The enforcement of strict conservation laws, such as the requirement of a fishing license to fish in the rivers and lakes within Chitwan National Park, has brought significant hardship to the Bote community residing in the park’s buffer zones. The tedious paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles have made it difficult for them to obtain these licenses. The national park authorities have also stopped issuing new fishing licenses for the past seven years.
In an in-person interview conducted in June, Hasta Bahadur Bote, a resident of Bote Tole in Patihani village in Chitwan district, Nepal, told Global Voices that currently, only one person out of approximately 60 Bote households holds a valid fishing license. The rest have been forced to abandon their traditional livelihood due to conservation measures imposed by the park. Indigenous communities like the Bote, who have lived in close harmony with nature for generations, are now forced to search for opportunities elsewhere to sustain their families. But lacking skills other than fishing and boating, the community is facing severe unemployment.
Hasta Bahadur Bote said:
Growing up on the riverbank and coming from a lineage of fishers, I began fishing at a very young age. I feel deeply connected to the river. I want to continue my ancestral occupation, but I am forced to live a stagnant life, with fishing skills in my hands but no way to use them. I tried several times to go through the licensing process, but all my efforts went in vain.
He added, “The fishing nets and traps in the corner of my house mock me every day. Having fishing skills in hands which can’t feed my family makes me feel worthless.”
The cost of conservation
Chitwan National Park has adopted a fortress conservation approach, which views the use of natural resources by local communities as a threat to conservation. As a result, it aims to restrict resource access for the communities living nearby. While the conservation efforts of the national park have achieved some successes, they have come at the expense of the traditional occupation of the Bote community.
Members of the Bote community view these restrictions as a violation of their ancestral rights. “Fishing, for us, is not just an occupation but a tradition passed down through generations. It is our only identity, and we fear losing it,” said Hasta Bahadur Bote.
In Nepal, Indigenous communities have long maintained a close relationship with nature; however, the Indigenous Bote community of Chitwan has become a silent victim of the national park’s celebrated conservation achievements. Many experts argue that an ideal conservation approach should take the conservation and communities together rather than restricting the rights of the indigenous communities. Meaningful inclusion of Indigenous people in conservation efforts and the protection of their ancestral rights is the requirement of today. The Bote community of Chitwan is urging the government to consider their survival as part of the conservation equation.
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[1] Url:
https://globalvoices.org/2025/07/13/nepals-indigenous-bote-community-is-caught-between-conservation-and-survival/
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