Introduction of Avaaz online petition

Karma Bhutia, our friend and coordinator in Nepal and some residents, have been preparing a petition with Avaaz*. They asked us to support this action and send it to our network.

This is a region where we have been extremely welcomed and where the people live in a still unspoiled area, They belong to a marginalised indigenous group with their own language, culture, traditions and rights.

Our projects in this region: distribution of warm clothes and blankets, purchase and transport of medical equipment for a maternity clinic at 2700m, rehabilitation of yak herding paths at 3500m, protection of heritage of 550 yaks above 4000m.

With the arrival of three hydroelectric plants and the construction of roads, they want to buy up ‘fertile’ land from the yak herders to build them. Areas with medicinal plants will disappear, the risk of landslides will increase, spiritual forests will be cut down, glacial lakes will disappear and 3 free-flowing ‘sacred’ rivers will be dammed.

The native population’s existence will be threatened and all biodiversity will be endangered!

Your planned hydropower construction on the Chhujung, Chhunjam, and Bakhang Rivers of the Lungba Samba valley threaten one of Earth’s last pristine places – home to endangered snow leopards, red pandas, and tree frogs. We, the marginalized inhabitants of the Bhotkhola, urge you to honor the Lungba Samba Biocultural Heritage Special Conservation Zone our lawmakers enacted and stop your plans for constructing hydropower on our sacred rivers now!

Hands off our sacred rivers, yak pastures, and precious habitat for snow leopards, tree frogs, golden ducks, and red pandas.

The magnificent Chhujung, Chhunjam, and Bakhang Rivers, and the entire Lungba Samba Pass, between Makalu and Kanchenjunga protected areas, are deeply sacred for the Lhomi Singsa and Bhote people , who are among the most marginalized indigenous groups of Nepal with their own language, culture and customary law. We perform rituals for safe passage in these holy rivers and surrounding forests with a belief that living spirits reside in them. In our traditional belief system, humans are not even allowed to enter some of these forests out of reverence.

We sustain our livelihoods and survival through rearing yaks and naks, collecting medicinal herbs and other non-timber forest products and honoring the land.

Destructive activities initiated by three profit-hungry hydropower development companies ( Shangrila Urja Pvt Ltd, White Flower Energy Pvt Ltd, and Summit Energy Solution Pvt Ltd ) include harassing and intimidating local community members, obtaining false project permissions through illicitly influencing government officials and representatives, submitting fake ‘copy-paste’ Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), encouraging their workers to kill endangered wild animals for bushmeat to show their power, and building an illegal road from Chyamtang to the Chhujung River through our community forests, spiritual forests, and yak pasturelands, as well as nationally protected forests under the pretense of an ‘agriculture’ road. No FPIC was ever carried out, in clear violation of ILO 169 and UNDRIP, to which Nepal is a signatory. Afraid to build during the day they carry out their cowardly activities after midnight.

If allowed to proceed, over two dozen glacial lakes would be completely destroyed, harming the overall ecosystem. Their actions are in clear violation of the Lungba Samba Biocultural Heritage Special Conservation Zone Act and Procedure enacted by our first elected local government in 2020, which prevents hydropower, road building, mining and other such destructive activities, and was passed with the support of 235 households. Now, these hydropower companies, which use names like ‘shangri-la’ and ‘white flower,’ want to dam all 3 free-flowing rivers, a move that would devastate countless vulnerable species, including aquatic biodiversity, and displace us from our homeland forever.

Our homeland is the real Shangri-La. We are the guardians of this biocultural heritage landscape. We refuse to be displaced by profit-hungry extraction companies. We will not relent till you leave!