1

Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of Raute

Community and its Associated Biodiversity of Mid-Western

Region of Nepal

A Thesis Submitted to

The Central Department of Rural Development,

Tribhuvan University,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Master of Arts (M.A.)

in

Rural Development

By

Ram Bichari Thakur

Central Department of Rural Development

Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu

TU Registration No.: 33441-93

Exam Roll No.: 4965

March 2014

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled "Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of

Raute Community and its Associated Biodiversity of Mid-Western Region of Nepal"

submitted to the Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, is entirely

my original work prepared under the guidance and supervision of my supervisor. I have made

due acknowledgements to all ideas and information borrowed from different sources in the

course of preparing this thesis. The results of this thesis have not presented or submitted

anywhere else for the award of any degree or for any other purposes. I assure that no part of

the content of this thesis has been published in any form before.

..................................

Ram Bichari Thakur

TU Registration No.: 33441-93

March 6, 2014

Falgun 22, 2070

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RECOMMENDATION LETTER

The thesis entitled “Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of Raute Community

and its Associated Biodiversity of Mid-Western Region of Nepal” has been prepared by

Mr. Ram Bichari Thakur under my guidance and supervision. I hereby forward this thesis to

the evaluation committee for final evaluation and approval.

------------------------------------

Prof. Chandra Lal Shrestha, Ph.D.

Department of Rural Development

Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

March 6, 2014

Falgun 22, 2070

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APPROVAL LETTER

The thesis entitled “Impacts of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of Raute Community

and its Associated Biodiversity of Mid-Western Region of Nepal” submitted by Mr. Ram

Bichari Thakur in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's Degree (M.A.) in

Rural Development has been approved by the evaluation committee.

Evaluation Committee

.............................

Prof. Uma Kant Silwal, Ph.D.

Head

..................................

External Examiner

..................................

Prof. Chandra Lal Shrestha, Ph.D.

Supervisor

March 6, 2014

Falgun 22, 2070

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude and respect to Prof.

C.L. Shrestha and Mr. B.N. Oli, Director General of Department of Forests, Nepal for their

help, encouragement, guidance and practical suggestions extended to complete this

dissertation.

I would like to express my sincere and profound gratitude to Dr. N.P. Yadav, Ph.D., Forestry

Advisor and Mr. Ramu Subedi, Deputy Manager of Livelihoods & Forestry Programme

under Department of Forests, United Kingdom for their help and suggestion in accomplishing

this study.

Sincere thanks goes to Mr. Shambhu Prasad Chaurasiya, District Forest Officer of Surkhet

and Mr. Dadhi Ram Kandel, District Forest Officer of Dailekh for providing invaluable

assistance during the field study.

Sincere thanks goes to my field assistants Mr Min Bahadur Mahatara, student of B.Sc.

Forestry, Institute of Forestry, Pokhara Campus, Pokhara.

I am also grateful to all interviewees and others from the study areas for their support in

providing information for this study.

A deep appreciation is extended to my wife Mrs. Nirmala Phulara Thakur for her

inspiration, patience, understanding and constructive comments shown during field study as

well as report preparation.

Last but not the least, I wish to thank all others who directly or indirectly assisted me towards

the completion of this study.

Ram Bichari Thakur

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ABSTRACT

Raute ethnic community is a vulnerable tribe of Dadeldhura, Surkhet, Dailekh and Achham

districts that are inner Terai and mid-hills of far- and mid-western region of Nepal. This

community particularly depends upon the forest resources for their livelihoods. They prefer

to live in the forest by making a small hut, and moreover, they never make a permanent

settlement as well as growing the agriculture crop and enjoy wandering life in the forest and

commonly, they are called as nomads. Additionally, they are often regarded themselves as the

king of the jungle.

The study about this community was carried out when they were arrived at the Bisalla VDC

of Dailekh district because of their no fixed permanent settlement. Key-stakeholder‘s

discussion, direct observation, questionnaire survey and informal discussion with Raute

community were carried out for the direct data collection while literature survey from the

different sources was also taken into account. Exploratory and descriptive analysis was

carried out of these data.

The major findings of the study shows that events of fire occurrence were largely increased

from the last few decades and consequently, biodiversity is also extensively depleted from the

forests that affects directly to the quality and quantity of their dietary requirements.

Furthermore, the customary rules and regulations of community forests also impose them to

become vulnerability of their lives through prohibiting the collection of woods and edible

fruits, nuts, tubers etc. as well as hunting of the some wild animals, such as monkeys.

Government should encourage this community to live as permanent settlement. Furthermore,

adaptive measures from the adverse climatic consequences should be provided to the

community. Effective programs should be implemented for the conservation of significant

biodiversity. Such biodiversity and its associated knowledge, skill and technology should be

documented and properly registered. Besides that community forest user group should make

a flexible mechanism to sustain their livelihoods.

Key words: indigenous community, biodiversity, climate change, livelihoods etc.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration

Recommendation letter

Approval letter

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Rationale of the study

Objectives of the study

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Concepts and Theories

Previous Studies

Conclusion of Review

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Site Selection

Data collection

Data analysis

Data Presentation and Interpretation

Chapter IV

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF SURVEY DATA

Status of Livelihoods, Culture and Biodiversity Resources of Raute Community

Sustaining Livelihoods of the Raute Community

Cultural Status of the Raute Community

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Biodiversity associated with Raute community

Perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on sustaining their

livelihoods

Status of the livelihoods of the Raute community

Poverty Trap to the Raute Community

Impact of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of the Raute Community

Perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on Biodiversity

Resources

Impact of fire and famine occurrence on the availability of valuable biodiversity

resources

Determination of Vulnerable Floral Biodiversity Species associated with Raute

Community

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXES

Annex I

QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

List of Tables

Table (1) Trends of Qualitative and Quantitative Supply of Nutrition to the Raute Community

Table (2) Determination of vulnerability of floral biodiversity through Rapid Vulnerability

Assessment (RVA) method.

List of Figures

Diagram (1) Impacts of climate change on vulnerability of the livelihoods of the Raute

community

List of Boxes

Box (1) Experience of Main Bahadur Shahi, the Mukhiya of Raute

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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CFUGs Community Forest Users Group

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Flora and Fauna

cm Centimeter

DDC District Development Committee

DFO District Forest Office

DoF Department of Forests

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

GEF Global Environmental Facility

GoN Government of Nepal

ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IKST Indigenous Knowledge, Skill and Technology

ILO International Labor Organization

MAPs Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

INSEC Informal Sector Service Centre

NEFIN Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities

NGOs Non-governmental organizations

NTFPs Non Timber Forest Products

RVA Rapid Vulnerability Assessment

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNDRIP UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

VDC Village Development Committee

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The warming of global climate is now unequivocal. There are many observations of

increasing air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising sea

levels. More specifically, eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the 12

warmest years ever recorded since global surface temperatures are measured (1850). Over the

last 100 years (1906–2005), global temperature has increased by 0.74°C. Global sea level has

risen by 17 cm during the 20th

century, in part because of the melting of snow and ice from

many mountains and in the polar regions. The global average temperature is expected to

increase by about 0.2°C per decade over the next two decades. Continuing greenhouse gas

emissions at or above current rates would cause a further increase in global temperatures and

many other climatic changes during the 21st century (http://www.greenfacts.org/en/climate-

change-ar4/index.htm).

Environmental and ecological changes noted in the Nepal Himalaya indicate that global

warming will have a serious impact on the lives and livelihoods of indigenous communities.

Many mountain-living indigenous peoples depend on agriculture for their livelihood and

there is increasing concern that climate change will have a significant adverse impact on

farming. The study into indigenous peoples' views on climate change revealed that landslides,

soil erosion and debris flow as a consequence

of melting glaciers, as well as changing rainfall patterns, are leading to low productivity and

crop failures are affecting many Himalayan indigenous farming communities, who are

increasingly facing food insecurity. The informants also reported observing adverse affects

on the Himalayan ecosystem, and hence on the natural resources on which their livelihood

depends, due to changing rainfall patterns and other climate changes. Himalayan indigenous

peoples are cattle and sheep herders, and declining production of grass in the Himalayan

grasslands due to moisture deficiencies resulting from reduced snow deposits is therefore a

serious concern, forcing people to seek grazing at higher altitudes. Stream flow and spring

characteristics have also changed dramatically in recent years, making the management of

water supplies a challenge (http://www.unutki.org/news.php?news_id=95&doc_id=7).

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The Rautes are the only surviving nomadic tribe of Nepal and are a symbol of living history

of ancient human evolution bridging the ancient and modern culture. They represent the early

phase of the human race along with their primitive civilization in this part of the world even

in this 21st century. The vanishing tribe, probably the last hunting group of the Asia has been

passing through a difficult phase of existence at the moment (myrepublica.com, 2010).

Raute is the only nomadic group in Nepal living in the hilly districts of mid and far west.

They are very isolated and don‘t want to mingle with other people. They don‘t stay longer in

a particular place. Some stay in one place for 3 months and others up to a couple of years.

With people encroaching forests, their habitat, they are facing very difficult time in their

nomadic life (Fortier, 2009).

Raute are a nomadic ethnic group officially recognized by the Government of Nepal. They

are known especially for their hunting of langur and macaque monkeys for subsistence. They

also gather wild forest tubers, fruits, and greens on a regular basis. They normally do no

gardening, farming, or work for others as tenants or wage laborers. To obtain grain, iron,

cloth, and jewelry, they trade handmade wooden bowls and boxes to local farmers. They do

not sell other forest products, bushmeat, or forest medicinal plants. Rautes are the only ethnic

tribe of the country who are found in the hilly districts of Mid and Far West. As they move

from place to place, they do not rely on farming and other everyday livelihoods. Raute group

dance in Surkhet, Western Nepal. Recently, the first ever census of the endangered Raute

community was carried out by the Dailekh District Development Committee. The population

of the nomadic ethnic group is found to be 304. The census report showed that there are only

112 females, 96 children and two disabled in the Raute community. The number of Raute

females of marriageable age is below one dozen while the number of eligible males is 36.

The fact is causing increase in the case of child marriage according to Raute leader Mahin

Bahadur Shahi (DFO Dailekh, 2009).

The Rautes use to exchange their wooden vessels for foodstuffs with the locals, have been

further worried as their handicraft too lost its charm among the local residents lately. Raute

community have been facing acute food shortage in recent days and many old persons and

children died (Thapa, 2009).

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Rationale of the study

The Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has categorized fifty nine

indigenous communities of Nepal. Out of them, Raute indigenous community is in endanger

category and has less than 0.1 percent population within indigenous people. Moreover,

livelihood of Raute people is highly vulnerable since they are nomads and entirely depends

on forest resources for their livelihoods. Besides that, they do not prefer permanent settlement

as well as farming practices including rearing livestocks. Earning livelihoods is exclusively

dependent on foraging edible forest products and selling wooden items made from soft wood

from the forest. Community forest users groups have been inhibiting them to collect forest

products from the forest. GoN is also unable to enforce special provision regarding utilization

of forest products to Raute community. Furthermore, forest resources are depleting

continuously due to uncontrolled fire, grazing, encroachment and over-exploitation of the

resources. Raute community and local people also perceive that incident of fire occurrence

has increased annually and they suspect that climate change may accelerate this incidence

which further exposed them on fragile livelihoods. In such circumstances, this study intended

to explore the relationship between impacts of climate change on livelihoods of Raute

community and biodiversity associated with them.

Objectives of the study

General objective

To explore the impacts of climate change on the livelihoods of Raute Community and its

associated biodiversity of Mid-Western Region of Nepal

Specific objectives

i) To explore the status of livelihoods, culture and biodiversity resources of Raute

Community.

ii) To identify the perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on

sustaining their livelihoods.

iii) To discover the perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on

Biodiversity Resources.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Concepts and Theories

Nepal‗s Act to establish the Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities,(2002)

defines "indigenous nationalities…[as] those ethnic groups or communities, who have their

own mother tongue and traditional customs, different cultural identity, distinct social

structure and written or oral history". It lists 59 indigenous nationalities, of which 18 from the

mountains, 24 from the hills, 7 from the Inner Terai and 10 from the Terai regions. According

to the census of 2001, indigenous peoples comprise 38.8 per cent of the 23 million people in

Nepal (Bhattachan, 2012).

Indigenous peoples of Nepal lost their autonomy and self-rule when Nepal was territorially

integrated by King Pritvinarayan Shah in 1769. The constitution, laws, rules and regulations

have always been predatory to indigenous peoples (Bhattachan 2012).

Nepal is now a federal Democratic Republic. It is a multi-racial, multi-caste, multi-ethnic,

multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-cultural society. Currently, the Constituent Assembly is

making a new constitution. The debates on the restructuring of the State have been polarized:

non-indigenous people are against autonomy and self-rule of indigenous peoples, and

indigenous peoples strongly support their right to self-determination, autonomy and self-rule

(Bhattachan, 2012).

The population of almost all indigenous peoples is concentrated in their own ancestral lands.

In the mountain regions, such as Mustang, Manag and Rasuwa, indigenous peoples comprise

75–95 per cent of the population, but in the Hills and the Terai, indigenous peoples are less

than 50 per cent of the population because they are outnumbered by the migrant non-

indigenous populations. The indigenous peoples in mountain areas still control their

indigenous way of life and the government machinery is in name only. On the contrary, many

indigenous peoples of the Hills and the Terai have been losing control over their indigenous

way of life because of the influence of the dominant groups through the processes of

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Gorkhaization, Hinduization, Sanskritization, Nepalization and Westernization (Bhattachan,

2012).

The Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has categorized these 59

indigenous peoples into five groups based on developmental indicators (e.g. literacy and

education, income, wealth, land holding and other assets). Raute is categorized as endangered

indigenous people whose population is less than 0.1 percent among the indigenous people.

The economic situations of indigenous peoples vary enormously – from the Rautes who still

make their livelihood through hunting and gathering, to the Newars and the Thakalis who are

well advanced in commercial and industrial activities. Indigenous peoples have been adopting

either one or more strategies for their livelihood, including foraging, horticulture, agriculture

and industrial activities.

The main challenges to overcoming poverty of indigenous peoples include: eliminating

centralization of power and authority; hegemony of power and authority by a specific caste

group (Bahun-Chhetris), sex group (male), language group (Khas Nepali) and regional group

(the Hill); mainstreaming gender and other groups with no respect for caste/ethnic, linguistic,

cultural, religious and regional diversity; inadequate targeted programmes for development of

indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups/communities; and non-implementation of

ILO Convention 169 and UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

The Rautes are the only nomads located on the far- and mid-western Hill and Terai of Nepal.

They are mostly found in Dandeldhura, Doti, Surkhet, and Jajarkot. The Rautes are the only

nomads of Nepal who are still committed to continue their traditional nomadic lifestyle in the

forests of far-western and mid-western development regions. They are facing hardship in

continuing their traditional way of life because forests are owned and/or controlled and/or

managed by the Government, community and non-indigenous individuals. Some of the

Rautes have already been settled by the Government and the remaining ones continue to

refuse the suggestions of the Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to

settle down (Bhattachan, 2012).

The Rautes, the last nomads of Nepal, still control their way of life but have lost control over

the forest that they have been living in for centuries. They keep moving from one place to

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another and making their living by hunting, gathering and bartering their handcrafted wooden

products for food grains in nearby villages (Bhattachan, 2012).

Raute are a nomadic ethnic group officially recognized by the Government of Nepal. They

are known especially for their hunting of langur and macaque monkeys for subsistence. They

also gather wild forest tubers, fruits, and greens on a regular basis. They normally do no

gardening, farming, or work for others as tenants or wage laborers. To obtain grain, iron,

cloth, and jewelry, they trade handmade wooden bowls and boxes to local farmers. They do

not sell other forest products, bushmeat, or forest medicinal plants. Rautes emphasize that

they wish to remain full-time foragers and not assimilate into the surrounding farming

population.

The Raute language is currently classified as Tibeto-Burman. It is called "Raute" in most

studies. It is closely related to the language spoken by two related ethnic groups, the Ban Raji

("Little Rulers of the Forest") and Raji ("Little Rulers") of the same region (Fortier and

Rastogi 2004). The closest well-documented language to Raute known at the present time is

Chepang, spoken by an ethnic group of west-central Nepal who also have been hunter-

gatherers until the current generation.

All over the world, hunter-gatherer societies are disappearing and a similar fate awaits

Nepal‘s Raute. As with other hunter-gatherers, the Raute are also divided about preserving

their old ways or assimilating into mainstream society. And it has been a subject of much

debate among the Raute ever since the first anthropological study on the tribe was done more

than 40 years ago. ―We would rather die than give up our nomadic way of life,‖ says Bir

Bahadur Shahi, one of the three Raute mukhiyas. What is surprising is that the Raute have

actually managed to survive and preserve their way of life despite inroads made by modernity

into remote Nepal where they live. They live in the forest, hunt with nets and axes, forage for

tubers and fruits, and barter or sell woodenwares that they make in their villages in exchange

for food-grains and tools, among other materials. The Raute hunt in groups, they share all

their food and property evenly. They follow their unique religion, rituals, belief systems and

uphold political, social and cultural institutions, including leadership structures and

knowledge systems. The closed society that the tribe is to outsiders, they limit socialisation

just enough to fulfil their material needs. The Raute‘s nomadic lifestyle and shifting

agriculture is sustainable and never over-exploits the forest, leaving time for regeneration.

But it goes against the forestry regulations of the modern Nepali state which hasn‘t taken into

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account the needs of indigenous groups. (http://ecoholidayasia.com/raute-nomadic-ethnic-

group-nepal)

In Raute community, Marriage is chosen by song, where a man and male friends compete

with a group of similar numbered females in a folk duet festival. The male will sing a

question and the female group must reply. Should they fail to outperform the males, the male

leader can choose his bride. Even such small groups afford enormous discrimination among

each other. Many brothers can marry one lady, and when a husband dies they believe the wife

to be the cause. Afterwards they view the widow as completely useless, and her life turns into

a pale existence of its former self as an outcast who has no option but to try and survive

within the only domain she has known. (http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/nepal-raute-

documentary-idea.html)

Apart from the ethnic culture and the religious aspect of the Rautes, there are three special

features that sustain their Raute tradition. Those include carpentry (wood work), hunting,

monkey hunting, and their ethnic dance. Hunting fulfills their nutritional requirements,

carpentry (wood work) provides them with the opportunity to barter and purchase food

supplies and their dance represent their ethnic idiosyncrasy and it is also their mode of

entertainment.

Monkey Hunting: Killing monkey is one of the fundamental sides of giving the cultural

continuity to the hunting life of the Rautes. Villagers acknowledge Rautes for killing those

monkeys who are a menace to the village and thus the solidarity between the Rautes and the

villagers improves as the Rautes do not cause any harm to any other animal species. Their

hunting technique is also very courageous in the sense that around 8-30 young and middle

aged Rautes members go for hunt in a group. The net is kept at a deep-set land as they set a

perimeter in the forest. Monkeys are the only wild animals hunted by Rautes. They do not kill

any birds or eat any animals killed by other. In fact, they consider killing the species of dear

as a great sin.

The Rautes and Forests: The culture of the Rautes is that of the culture of the forest. Woods

are an integral part of the Raute life: from their birth, growth and till their death. These

forests provide them with woods as a means for their livelihood and monkeys as their hunt

for food. Rautes believe that a longer stay in a particular place will contribute to

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deforestation. Hence to conserve the ecosystem of that particular place in the jungle, they

shift from place to place. This controls excessive forest degradation. They sell their wooden

product in the local market. But with the popularity of the plastic and silver materials in the

local market, the demands for wooden products have gone down. Since the Rautes products

are long lasting, the people of the village are also not interested in buying the same product

again. However, the Rautes have always been successful in selling their products although

they have got a lesser price for their products.

Raute cosmology sees the world as divided into two realms--one where the sun, moon,

clouds, and stars reside and the other being the earth with its forests. The earthly realm is

inhabited with supernatural deities, human ancestors, and ghosts. In this sense the Raute

world is an "animistic" one (Fortier,2009).

The Raute Dance: Raute dance symbolizes their cultural continuation and is a mode of their

entertainment. For a last few years, they have been showing this dance outside their

settlement to reveal their identity and provide entertainment to villagers. This dance has also

been an important source of income for the Rautes. The Rautes have special commitment in

their ethnic dance. They are very spontaneous and passionate about their dance and get lost in

it as soon as it starts with the beats of the madal. As 2-3 madals are beaten, the Rautes dance

in different nature, sometimes being round, sometimes in rows or sometimes in line. They

dance with feelings in colorful dresses and large jewelries that also include a long white skirts

(jhagla) and bangles in feet (kalli).

The Raute Knowledge: The Rautes have traditional knowledge of living in a community. The

heredity of the Rautes is categorized into three types as kalyaal, raskoti and samaal. It is

therefore very important to collect these various aspects of the Rautes such as their

specialties, values and norms, birth, growth and death, marriage and lifestyle. Documenting

their knowledge and culture provides an opportunity for the people interested in the cultural

and the anthropology of this community. Women make a special contribution in sustaining

the nomadic culture of the Rautes. They are more committed to their culture and tradition.

They take the full responsibility at the decision making level in the family and house hold

chorus. (http://nomadicrautes.org.np/index.php?page=features)

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Wooden Products of Nomadic Rautes

Rautes are only the nomadic ethnic group of Nepal who have been sustaining their unique

cultural identities for years. These are the special products of the Rautes which only these

nomadic tribal people can manufacture. When we buy these goods, we have contributed for

the living human heritage of Nepal. Interestingly we have contributed for that tribal

community who has, time and again, denied permanent settlement, education and agriculture.

Koshi: Koshi is one of the important wooden bowls which is made plainly and without any

decoration. Diverse in sizes, it has lid to fit its open mouth? These are used in the villages in

order to keep rice, maize, and other different home products.

Mudhus: Mudhus is something like a box which is made by cutting a tree trunk in half and

then further cutting the section of the wood horizontally. This straight fraction serves as the

sides and the lid of the box as well. The signals are carefully marked as to where edges are to

be joined and grooves are cut with a chisel using the back of an adze as a hammer.

Jhuma: Every Raute home has one special kind of wooden product which is called Jhuma.

This vessel like product has a lid over it which is not for sold. According to them, it takes lots

of time and skill to manufacture it but doesn't pay much by selling. So this is used for the

family purpose only especially in order to prepare alcohol.

Support Rautes and Accept Blessings: After bartering the bowls, with grains, a blessing is

spelled out over the bowl which runs roughly as follows: I give this bowl with the blessing

that its owner may be wealthy and always have milk, fresh meat and rice, and this bowl may

last for the generations to come.

The Rautes are the only nomads of Nepal who are still committed to continue their traditional

nomadic lifestyle in the forests of far-western and mid-western development regions. They

are facing hardship in continuing their traditional way of life because forests are owned

and/or controlled and/or managed by the Government, community and non-indigenous

individuals. Some of the Rautes have already been settled by the Government and the

19

remaining ones continue to refuse the suggestions of the Government and non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) to settle down.

Raute are now learning a new way of life through adapting activities such as working in

agricultural fields, building houses, making relationship with neighboring communities, and

penetrating into market and government offices. They are trying to transform their nomadic

life of hunting and gathering and traditional behavior to modern, sedentary system for

sustaining their livelihoods. Raute were settled in Jogbudha valley of Dadeldhura district in

1979 (Singh, 1997). Raute's total population in Nepal is 658, which are spread over 29

districts and Dadeldhura has the largest population of Raute. Raute is alike other two

ethnicities, Kusbadiya and Kusunda (Bhattachan et al, 2005). Two Raute villages, Ampani

(Jogbudha VDC) and Rajauda (Shirsha VDC) are located in the Jogbudha valley in

Dadeldhura district, far western Nepal.

Raute used to make wooden materials (agriculture tools, kitchen materials and bed) and

bartered with food grains in the villages. Previously, Raute had obtained woods free from the

forests for preparing wooden items. Since the initiation of community forest users group,

Raute must have to take permission from the users group to get access to forest resources.

This has made them restriction and forced them to adopt alternative works.

A Nepalese tribe of forest-dwelling nomads who refuse citizenship and voting rights is facing

a crisis, with its young people's thirst for mobile phones and modernization clashing with

their elders' struggle to maintain their traditional way of life even as deforestation undermines

their livelihood. The monkey population they feed off is declining with the forests, and cheap

plastic goods flooding the market are outdoing the Rautes' wooden products. A prohibition on

chopping down trees under measures to curb deforestation, the government is stopping their

traditional rights from entering the forest and has restricted their age-old preferential rights to

free movement in the forests. Bans on entering forests to gather logs for manufacturing the

goods, Raute sell for a living have undermined their only occupation -- Rautes depend

heavily on their woodwork as they have never practiced agriculture or worked for wages.

Moreover, they are losing control of their traditional hunting areas. Besides, the Rautes'

traditional methods of survival have been affected by the mainstream communities living

nearby. They are struggling to maintain their traditional values despite insurmountable

problems. Of Nepal's 125 castes and ethnic groups, the Rautes are the only ones who live in

20

forests their whole lives, but they are gradually absorbing modern ways. Rautes refuse

citizenship and electoral registration. No Raute has ever applied for citizenship. They believe

citizenship certificates are for landowners only.

(http://www.upi.com/UPI-Next/2013/09/24/Nepali-nomadic-tribe-struggles-to-stay-in-

forest/31374579675397/#ixzz2vGFfylNb)

The number of Raute people is decreasing day by day with the rise in death incidents because

of poor health condition caused by nutrition deficit. Population of Raute was 2979 according

to the Census-2048 BS (1992 AD) while it stood at 658 in 2058 BS and 180 in 2066 BS.

Some death incidents are found occurring due to poor health conditions while some others

reportedly died in course of hunting in the forest. Likewise, women belonging to this ethnic

group are often deprived of having nourishing foods during post-partum and so is the case

with newborn, which obviously trigger maternal child mortality.

(http://nepalbreakingnews.com/raute-population-on-the-decline/3401/)

Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) demanded government ensure security of people of

Raute community who were displaced to Dang from Salyan district. Raute families chased

away from Pakhapani Community Forest of Dhanbang-6 in Salyan district and their

displacement to Dang on June 18, 2012. Some local youths of Pakhapani Community Forest

chased away Rautes alleging that the latter destroyed and littered the forest. Rautes were

forced to leave the forest after the youths seized their utensils and destructed their huts.

(https://www.nepalmonitor.org/index.php/reports/view/801)

There was a strong sense of unity and fraternity in the community as long as their livelihood

is based only on collecting wild roots, hunting monkeys and bartering wooden handicrafts for

food grains. But money came to their community from the government as an unimagined

dividing force. (http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/rising.detail.php?article_id=62255&cat_id=7)

Like any other ethnic group following the Hindu society, the Raute community also

maintains a patriarchal social hierarchy. However, in matters of internal management, women

have a more prominent role than that of their male counterparts. The Rautes maintain a clear

division of labour between men and women. Most often the male members get involved in

making wooden utensils, hunting monkeys, trading their products in the market, and

collecting food grains. Married women never travel outside of their settlement area with

anyone else other than their husbands. The women are mainly responsible for collecting

21

firewood, cooking meals and rearing their children. They also may assist the males while

shifting homes to new locations and building new homes there. The women do not participate

in making wooden utensils and hunting as they are considered to be the male tasks (CVN,

2011).

Festivals and Celebrations

The Rautes observe the festivals like ‗Saune Sankranti‘ (the first day of the fourth month

in the Nepali calendar), Dashain, Tihar, Chaite Dashain and Maghe Sankranti as practiced by

the local Hindu community. For the celebrations, the Rautes manage food, homemade ale and

meat in advance. As they enjoy complete participation in the community events, they do not

like to meet strangers or travel beyond their settlement area during their celebration period.

They take complete leave from carpentary and hunting during the festivals. These festivals

are observed with much joy and fervor amidst singing, dancing, feasting and their own ritual

performances. Rice, meat and drinks play an important role in their feast (CVN, 2011).

Death and Nomadism

In Raute community, there is no elaborate ceremony during a death ritual. They simply dig

the grave and bury the dead body. But few years back, they used to leave the dead body on

the ground for the scavenging vultures. The death ritual of Raute has played a key role

in promoting their nomadic tradition. They consider it to be ominous to continue living at

the same place when their member dies. After burying the dead body, they immediately move

to a new place just on the following day. In that sense, mortality and mobility form the basis

of their culture. Even when someone dies at a new place on the very first day of their arrival,

they follow the same practice (CVN, 2011).

22

Previous Studies

The Raute are one of the last hunting and gathering tribes in Asia. The name "Raute" is one

of many applied to this tribe in the past, e.g., they are called Ban (forest) Rawat, Janggali and

Banmanus (both meaning "men of the forest"), Ban Raja (Kings of the forest), Raji and

Rautiya. The terms Raji, Raute, Rawat and Rautiya appear to all be based on a meaning of

"lord" or "Prince" and in this case used to distinguish the Raute as "lords of the forest" as

opposed to the lords or kings of the cultivated land (Reinhard, 1974).

There is abundant evidence that present day Nepal was inhabited by humans since the

Paleolithic and a culture unique to Nepal existed by Mesolithic. It is possible that hunter-

gatherer populations currently residing in central Nepal, such as Kusundas, Chepangs,

Rautes, and Rajis may be the descendants of the Patu people that developed the first culture

of Nepal some 7000 years ago. (http://nepaliaashish.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/could-rautes-

kusundas-chepangs-rajis-or-tharus-be-the-first-peoples-to-colonize-the-himalayas-7000-

years-ago/)

The Raute who roam between one thousand and nine thousand feet, despite facing enormous

pressure from surrounding agrarian communities and the Nepali state, still cling to their

beliefs and practices. Respecting the right of indigenous groups (such as the Raute) is

necessary to preserve their own life-ways given the pressure to assimilate introduced by

forces of globalization and development (Fortier, 2009).

As nomads, the Raute do not register as citizens, do not carry a nagrikta (citizen card), nor

affiliate as residents of any political district. Almost every adult living in Nepal is registered -

except for the Raute. This is not a simple oversight; the Raute refuse to register themselves.

When asked if they pay taxes on the many types of wood they cut, they say, "No, we are

Raute. We do not pay taxes." Rautes are not proud of being Nepali, nor embarrassed by it. If

asked whether they are Nepali, they say that 'Yes, we're Nepali too.' But they add qualifiers,

as master orator Mayn Bahadur pointed out that "The King of Nepal is the King of Nepali

people; the Raute are the Kings of the Forest." (Fortier, 2003)

There is no documented history of the Rautes. But one common ground is that once they fled

from the state, they never returned and established a different pattern of life in the jungle. To

23

eke out their living, they mastered the craft of wooden products, learned to hunt monkeys,

and adapted to forest life (CVN, 2011).

The nomadic Raute live in the forests of the mid-hills of western Nepal. Their origins are

obscure and they practice a combination of short-term sedentary residence with a nomadic

lifestyle. Compared to their hierarchical, caste-based agrarian neighbors, the Raute are more

egalitarian, but at the same time the various bands lack a well-defined and stable sense of

group identity so cannot be neatly included under the familiar categories of Hinduism or the

Nepali nation. Unlike their foraging neighbors, like the Raji and Ban-rajis, the Raute observe

narrow foraging strategies limited mostly to langur and macaque monkeys. The food hunted

is carefully distributed among members of the group without regard to social position. In

addition to meat, the Raute also consume about ninety different types of wild greens, fruits,

vegetables, nuts, tubers, mushrooms, and spices. They refrain from cultivating crops and

raising animals. Unlike other foraging groups in these hills, the Raute have little interest in

supplementing their diet with fishing or honey gathering (Fortier, 2009).

The Raute have clung to their hunter-gatherer lifeways in the face of persistent attempts by

their agrarian neighbors, development organizations, and the Nepali state to convert them into

farmers. To achieve this, the Raute have developed a portfolio of verbal, rhetorical, and

theatrical skills, including posturing, silence, melting into the forest, and so on, that have

enabled them to preserve their ways of life. In this manner, the Raute have successfully

engaged their agrarian neighbors, traders, tourists, and government officials while deflecting

any pressure to be co-opted by the lifestyles of these neighbors. They also make strategic use

of mit or "bond friendships" with elite villagers. Such friendships provide the Raute with

access to resources, such as vegetables, tobacco, fruit, cloth, goats, and political protection

from villagers who might perceive the Raute as competitors for forest resources. These

strategies have enabled the Raute to preserve their way of life, resist encroachment by

competing groups, and gain access to valuable resources (Fortier, 2009).

On the basis of origin story of Raute people, they identify as belonging to the high social

caste stratum, known as taagaadhaari or "Wearers of the holy cord," despite their lack of this

ritual adornment. Raute claims to be "devolved" high castes also accounts for the Rautes‘

interest in crafting wooden objects from the forest. One might think that villagers would

24

disapprove of such claims to high caste status. However, villagers that heard this origin story

of Raute people seemed to accept it as authentic. According to the Muluki Ain of 1854, Raute

would fall into the third social ranking based on ascribed caste status, that of "enslavable

alcohol drinkers" (maasinyaa matwaali) since they are considered by scholars to probably be

most closely related genetically and linguistically to Chepang who were described as

"enslavable alcohol drinkers" (Fortier, 2003).

Rautes go for hunting in groups, each group comprising 5 to 60 members, and they use nets

but not bows and arrows. They hunt monkey only (and love rhesus and langur) by using net.

They do not kill other animals. They collect about 29 variety of fruits, 10 variety of

vegetables and 12 variety of roots and tubers (Singh, 1997 cited in Bhattachan, 2000).

Rautes traditionally lived by hunting and food gathering, but recently their food gathering

style of life have been severely threatened by the increasing population, expansion of

cultivated lands and the depletion of the forest areas and they have been more exposed and

forced to come to contacts with outsiders than ever before (Bista, 1978).

Due to expanding community forestry in the last two decades, community forestry user‘s

groups have demanded Rautes not to live in ―their‖ forests and not to cut trees by claiming

newly gained ownership from the government. Rautes, who actually are the owners of those

forests are increasingly becoming helpless and facing hardships in making their living in a

traditional way. They, therefore, wonder whether they or the dominant castes have the right

to live (Bhattachan, 2000).

Silwal (2011) studied that Raute women has been suffering from the lack of maternal health

care services during three stages of maternity. She found that complications like,

miscalculation of due date, problem in delivering baby, even the death of baby and different

types of illness after the delivery have been facing by the Raute women. She identified two

reasons behind the Raute women not getting modern health facility. The first and for most

reason of devoid of modern maternal health is the rejection of Raute people to utilize any

kind of things which will connect them with outer world. The next reason can be the inability

of Government of Nepal to deliver such services that ILO convention and UN Declaration

has addressed.

25

Conclusion of Review

The Rautes are one of the most typical indigenous groups of Nepal sustaining their unique

cultural identities for generations. They are the only nomadic people in the country who

never settle permanently in any particular place. The Rautes deny any idea on permanent

settlement, education or agriculture. The fact that the Rautes, the last fulltime nomads of

Nepal, have survived into this century is truly remarkable in our current period of

diminishing cultural diversity. It is estimated that the total population of Rautes in Nepal is

about 180, or roughly 52 families. The mid-western region of Nepal remains their only

sanctuary (CVN, 2011).

Efforts of the Raute to preserve their cultural traditions should be appreciated and every effort

made to understand and respect their way of life so it is necessary to preserve their bio-

cultural diversity (Fortier, 2009).

Historically, Rautes are the genuine indigenous people of the country and it has been known

to all that they do not like to change their lifestyle. It's the government duty to create an

atmosphere for protecting the identity of such community as Nepal is a state party to ILO

Convention No 169. Referring to Article 14 and 6 of ILO Convention No 169 regarding

safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples, the government has not taken any step to

protect those rights of nomadic peoples like Raute. The government should create an

atmosphere to protect traditional lifestyles of such indigenous community.

(https://www.nepalmonitor.org/index.php/reports/view/801)

Raute men and women struggle for their own identity, but with tremendously different

needs and goals. Rautes need to avoid assimilation into the villagers' cultural identity.

Preserving this cultural identity takes a tremendous effort (Fortier, 2003).

Reading, writing and counting heads is forbidden in the Raute community though they are

exceptionally bright in mental math.

(http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/rising.detail.php?article_id=62255&cat_id=7)

26

At the time when acculturation has been widespread the world with the diminishing diversity,

the Rautes have been quite successful in sustaining their tradition. Humanity has to learn a lot

from the Rautes, since they have been very successful in preserving their tradition in today's

world. Their maintenance of the nomadic culture in a rapidly globalising world is admirable.

This global uniqueness makes them a precious part of the diverse people of Nepal (CVN,

2011).

The Rautes prefer to use only a certain species of woods, so that their selection does not

create any clash with the villagers. The species of economic significance such as Shorea

robusta, Acacia catechue, Dalbergia sisoo are not their priorities. They only cut common

species of trees (CVN, 2011).

.

27

Chapter III

Research Methodology

i) Site Selection

Raute community does not stay permanently at any particular place. In Dailekh district, they

stayed temporarily in twenty nine districts of highly dense forest areas. This study was

carried out at Bisalla VDC ward no. 4, Kaule hamlet of the district. There are 942 households

and 5295 populations in the VDC. Out of them, there are 52 households and 149 populations

of the Raute community. Among them, there are 71 female and 78 male populations.

ii) Data collection

a) Primary Data Collection

Key informants survey was carried out with Mukhiya of Raute while questionnaire survey

was conducted with 21 members of the community. Perception of women was very much

difficult to find out since they were seemed very much shy and isolated.

Contemporary Vision Nepal, 2011 has the similar experience with the interaction of Raute,

and mention that only the Mukhiya of the Rautes, on behalf of their tribe, talks to outsiders

regarding their lifestyle and tradition.

b) Secondary Data Collection

Secondary data were collected from the different sources such as internet surfing, operational

plan, biodiversity documentation report of Dailekh district and others.

iii) Data analysis

Data were mostly exploratory and descriptive in nature so its analysis was carried out

subjectively.

Reinhard (1974) used exploratory method since there is scantly and open to question of

information of Raute regarding socio-cultural-economy aspects of their livelihood.

iv) Data Presentation and Interpretation

The findings of the study are presented in a logical sequence.

28

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF SURVEY DATA

Status of Livelihoods, Socio-Culture, Socio-economic and Biodiversity

Resources associated with Raute Community

a) Assessing Livelihoods of the Raute Community

Raute community has not adopted yet any types of agricultural systems. Moreover, they think

the agricultural systems are their enemy. However, they use corn, rice, wheat, Kodo, Phapar,

potato etc. as major food constituents. Raute never likes to rear any kinds of livestock. They

do not show any kinds of greedy behavior towards the earning of the wealth. They perceive

enemy to the permanent settlement, agriculture and education. They burn the house, food

grain and agricultural residue during the departure from the settlement thinking that such

grains may grow later since Raute hates to grow the agricultural crop.

Carpentry and wood carving are the main occupation of this community. Specifically, they

produce and sales wooden pots in the adjoining village or nearby market centers. Rautes have

been bartering their wooden products with that of the different crops in the nearby villages

for years. Unfortunately, their wooden products have gradually been replaced by the plastics

and other foreign products. Moreover, wooden products of Raute are rough in nature and the

products are also not very much durable since they are manufactured from the soft wood.

Hence, the livelihoods of the Raute are in vulnerable.

Raute community uses soft wood such as Simal, Gamhari, Dabdabe, Chir pine etc. for the

manufacture of different wooden products. Koshi, Mundus and Jhuma are the special

products of the Rautes which only these nomadic tribal people can manufacture. Koshi is one

of the important wooden bowls which is made plainly and without any decoration. Diverse in

sizes, it has lid to fit its open mouth. These are used in the villages in order to keep rice,

maize and other different home products. Mundus is something like a box which is made by

cutting a tree trunk in half and than further cutting the section of the wood horizontally. This

straight fraction serves as the sides and the lid of the box as well. The signals are carefully

29

marked as to where edges are to be joined and grooves are cut with a chisel using the back of

an adze as a hammer. Every Raute home has one special kind of wooden product which is

called Jhuma. This vessel like product has a lid over it which is not for sold. According to

them, it takes lots of time and skill to manufacture it but does not pay much by selling. So,

this is used for the family purpose only especially in order to prepare alcohol.

b) Assessing Socio-Cultural Status of the Raute Community

Raute community never count the number of members in their family and community;

never like the idea that the government should issue them citizenship certificates; not

mention their children‘s name until they are 10 years; neither care to be educated or seek

medicines for their children; prefer to call themselves as the ―Lice of the Forest or King

of the Forest‖; they are highly prosperous in Indigenous Knowledge, Skill and

Technology (IKST); drink the water only from the spring, never from the river; bury the

dead body covering with the trapping net of monkey; live in a place about 7 days to one

month in a year; they extinguish all the materials of the house except the main pole during

the departure from any place; Mukhiya may take decision to leave the place at any time

and all the members of the community must obey the decision of the Mukhiya and

departure from the settlement at any time when there was death of any member of the

community.

30

C) Assessing Socio-economic status of Raute community

Raute have an economy based primarily on the hunting of monkeys with nets, the trading of

wood objects for foodstuffs and other essential items with villages, and the gathering of yams

and other edible plants in the forest.

Raute do extensive traveling between 2000 and 4500 square miles. Their routes of movement

are largely influenced by climatic pattern, as they appeared in the hotter valleys during winter

months and the high mountain areas in the summer season. This movement pattern also

signifies an important part of their economy. Since resources would be less depleted for

hunting and gathering and the market for wooden objects would not be exhausted. The wide

use of territory also implies a fairly extensive knowledge of flora, if not fauna (the Raute

hunting exclusively monkeys).

Economic activities are divided according to the sexes with hunting and wood carving being

the principal activities of the men and gathering primarily that of the women. The Raute

exploit very little of the available wild-animal life since they claim to hunt exclusively the

rhesus and langoor monkeys. They are one of only a few hunting and gathering tribes known

to hunt land animals with nets.

Although villagers will not kill monkeys themselves, they will sometimes ask the Raute to

come into an area to kill the monkeys which have been ravaging their crops. The exclusive

hunting of monkeys appears to be especially advantageous in that monkeys are not hunted by

villagers and are considered pest by them whereas many other game animals are hunted.

Thus, both villagers and Raute community seem symbiotic relationship.

Raute normally hunt in groups of more than 10. Hunting monkeys with nets necessitates a

cooperative effort while enabling men to remain relatively close to camp.

The game is said to be divided equally among those who participated in the hunt, with those

people who remained in camp receiving a somewhat smaller share. The division is not

dependent upon the size of a hunter's family, and no special parts of the monkey are given to

any particular person. Those men, including their families, who were in the villages trading

31

wooden objects that day, do not receive anything, otherwise the Raute feel that their hunting

god would become angry.

The nets used for hunting are made and owned individually and may also be used for carrying

goods while moving camp. They are made from strips of a tree bark or of a vine which is

stripped, beaten, cooked and again beaten, and then dried and separated before finally being

rolled into a cord for the construction of the nets.

Numerous woods are used for the construction of the various objects made. Raute make

wooden bowls, wooden seats, boxes and even dual purpose sleeping plank-storage boxes.

Raute claim that they can make more complicated objects such as boat if ordered. The bowls

are used by villagers for keeping curd, butter, oil, etc. The sleeping plank-storage box

consists of a large wood box with a long plank as a lid upon which a man may sleep to safe

his possessions for not being stolen.

The trading of wood objects is not only an important source of basic subsistence foods, it is

also a means of obtaining needed items from villagers such as salt, baskets, tools, cooking

utensils, cloth etc. It further enables the Raute to collect a short-term, but important surplus

by acquiring goats, chickens and grain beyond their immediate needs. Once a large

proportion of surplus would acquire, they likely to devote in hunting, drinking, dancing, etc.

The Raute have an occasional surplus can be seen in their appearance. Women wear clothes,

earrings, bracelets, and necklaces while men have clothes, pouches, earrings, etc., and all of

these items are obtained in trade with villagers. Some Raute also have special clothes worn

only at dances.

From the Raute stand-point, about 1-2 week stay would appear to be a good length of time to

remain in one place, as it would be long enough to exploit trading and hunting and gathering

possibilities within a fairly large area and yet not be too long to upset villagers through

cutting of trees, and by gathering forest produce or having too prolonged contact with

villagers.

32

d) Assessing Biodiversity associated with Raute community

Raute community depends mostly upon the forest land, pasture land, wetland, agriculture

land and other public land areas. They perform their activities in the community forest,

government managed forest, protected forest and also in private forest. They fulfill their

forest based needs and raw materials for the enterprises from such forests. Raute community

prefers the meat of Rato Bandar (Seminopithecus entellus) excessively. When this researcher

reached the settlement of Raute, we got informed that they killed 36 monkeys in a day.

The herbal drugs used by the Raute tribe of far-western Nepal are of 47 species of plants

including one species of pteridophyte, four monocotyledons and 42 dicotyledons, and 17

types of diseases treated have been identified from this study.

Raute community use the following vegetation for supplying their basic needs of forest

products: Padamchal (Rheum australe), Chutro (Berberis aristata), Belouti (C. guava),

Aiselu (Rubus ellipticus), Tite Githa (Dioscorea bulbifera), banana (Musa sapientum), Siru

(Imperata cylindrica), Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii), Babiyo (Eulaliopsis binata), Banjh

(Quercus incana), Pipal (Ficus religiosa), Okhar (Juglans regia), Bojho (Acorus calamus),

Kaphal (Myrica esculenta), Painyu (Prunus cerasoides), Hadchur (Viscum album), Timur

(Zanthoxylem armatum), Aru (Prunus persica), Dudhe jhar, Banmara, Kurilo, Halhale,

Dhusru, Sisnu, Kanpate jhar, Pureni lahara etc.

Raute community kills the following wild animals and birds for the fulfillment of basic needs

of meat: Rato Bandar, Guna Bandar, rabbit, Malsapro, leopard, Ratuwa, Ghoral, Bandel,

pigeon, Ban Khukura, Chyakhura, Kalij, , Bakulla, Jureli, Bhadrai Bhangero, Fisto,

Kalchudo, Dangre, Aringal etc. Similarly, they use the following wild animals for the

medicinal purpose: leopard, Ratuwa, Ghoral, Bakulla, Bhangero, Dangre, earthworm, snail,

Kutanibudhi, Kamalkothi, bees, termites, ants, Aringal etc.

Raute community prefers the meat of Rato Bandar excessively. When this researcher reached

the settlement of Raute, we got informed that they killed 36 monkeys in a day. Moreover,

monkeys are afraid from the arrival of the Raute. They use mostly the bones and meat of

monkeys for the preparation of alcohols.

33

The herbal drugs used by the Raute tribe of far-western Nepal are of 47 species of plants

including one species of pteridophyte, four monocotyledons and 42 dicotyledons, and 17

types of diseases treated have been identified from this study. Medicinal uses of 15 species

(31%) are unrecorded from other parts of the country.

Perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on sustaining

their livelihoods

Raute‘s hut cover with leaves of different vegetation and sometimes prepare from plastic also

get adversely affected with climate change abnormality and consequently, livelihoods

become vulnerable.

Climate change induced fire and famine affects plant regeneration, declining particularly soft

tree species that is used by Raute to prepare good quality wooden utensils, ultimately

influencing their livelihoods. Due to abnormality of climatic pattern, there is prevalence of

pre-monsoon, late snow fall, heavy temperature rises and falls and other abnormal

phenomenon affects the decision of movement from one place to another as predetermined

route of the Raute community.

a) Status of the livelihoods of the Raute community

Status of the livelihoods of the Raute community is highly fragile. Natural assets include

forest, wildlife, Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), drinking water, etc. Raute community

is prosperous in natural assets; however, they are very weak in physical, human, financial and

social assets. Physical assets are very feeble since they have lack of accessible road, school,

hospital, permanent building, communication service etc. and human assets are also very

much poor since Raute treats education as an enemy. Moreover, they have lack of skill based

training, no employment in government or private sector and lack of government or NGO

service to the community. Livelihoods depend solely upon the traditional wood carving and

wooden pottery selling. In fact, Raute is opposite of the virtue of modern world and its people

since they do not practice upon the permanent settlement, saving of the money, agriculture

occupation, livestock rearing and educating their children. That‘s why financial assets of

Raute are still more susceptible. There is no cordial relationship of Raute with local villagers

since they may fell the tree of the villagers planted in the farmland. Moreover, Raute also

harms and kills the wild animals of community forest and other community owned forest

land, however, there is strong coherence among the member of the community (Reinhard,

1974).

34

b) Poverty Trap to the Raute Community

Raute community particularly depends upon forest resources for supplying food materials

which are declining at a rapid rate from the forest. Moreover, lack of qualitative and

quantitative food materials lead towards physical weakness and ultimately, it drags towards

further poorer situation. Raute community lives inside or adjoining part of the forests which

are inaccessible for education, health facilities, exchange of commodities, communication

service, transportation facility etc. Such isolation enhances the poverty rate to the Raute

community. Due to excessively inadequate assets accelerate vulnerability of the livelihoods

of the Raute community. Due to lack of political, economical and social status, Raute

community has become vulnerable (Thapa, 2009 and Fortier, 2002).

35

c) Impact of Climate Change on the Livelihoods of the Raute Community

Climate change has induced uncertainty of weather condition that results heavy rainfall,

storms, hurricanes, floods and snowfall. Raute‘s hut, prepare from the branches of the tree,

which is covered with leaves of different vegetation, and sometimes plastic also uses for the

covering. Rautes have been suffering from the extreme weather condition. Roofs of the huts

are blown away by the heavy rainfall, hurricanes etc. Thus, Raute‘s life and livelihoods are

always uncertainty and vulnerable. Raute community falls on mostly a long starvation since

they are highly susceptible to climate change in the lacking of permanent settlement.

Biodiversity which is useful for the daily needs of the Raute has reduced immensely due to

the adverse influence from the frequent fire and a long famine situation (Bista, 1978 and Rai,

1985).

36

Lower availability

of softwood

Vulnerability to Livelihoods of Raute Community

Crisis in wood carving and pot

making occupation

Hardwood demand

of CFUG

Heavy fire and

famine occurence

Impacts of

climate change

Diagram (1) Impacts of climate change on vulnerability of the livelihoods of the

Raute community

37

Raute uses following biodiversity resources for the purpose of food:-

1. Wild tubers, rhizomes and bulbs such as Githa, Vyakur, Kurilo etc.

2. Wild fruits, nuts and other edible forest derivatives

3. Mushrooms, young shoots of bamboo and Nigalo etc.

4. Foliage based green vegetables such as Niuro, Halhale etc.

5. Wild animals such as deer, monkey, rodents, wild pig, birds etc.

6. Agricultural products such as rice, wheat, maize, corn, pulse, potato etc.

7. Honey, Silajeet, etc.

8. Fish, and others

Apart from the impact of climate change on the availability of wild food materials, qualitative

and quantitative status of nutrition level of food materials are sharply declined now.

Following table also shows the trends of quantitative and qualitative supply of nutrition to the

Raute community which is based on the response from the members of the Raute community.

Table (1) Trends of Qualitative and Quantitative Supply of Nutrition to the Raute

Community

S.N. Food Composition Trends of availability of quantitative

and qualitative food material

Before

1990s

1990-2000 After

2000

1 Wild tubers, rhizomes and bulbs 3 2 1

2 Wild fruits, nuts and other edible forest

derivatives

3 2 1

3 Mushrooms, young shoots of bamboo and

Nigalo

3 2 2

4 Foliage based green vegetables such as

Niuro, Halhale etc.

3 3 2

5 Wild animals such as deer, monkey, rodents,

wild pig, birds etc

3 2 1

6 Agricultural products such as rice, wheat,

maize, corn, pulse, potato etc

1 2 3

7 Honey, Silajeet, etc 3 2 1

8 Fish, and others 3 2 1

38

Total 22 17 12

Availability of food materials: High (3), Moderate (2), Low (1)

Climate change has induced the rate of fire and famine occurrence which affects the

regeneration of plant species and particularly destruction of soft tree species due to the lack

of resistance capacity from the adverse environmental condition. Besides that, community

forest users group remove the soft wood tree species, generally soft wood is called as the

poor wood, from the stand during the silviculture operation. On the contrary, Raute uses such

tree species for the preparation of wooden pots and handicrafts. On the shortage of soft

timber, Raute has been facing the problem of preparation of good quality of wooden artifacts

and consequently their livelihoods are badly influenced from the indirect impacts of climate

change (GEF, 2006 and Singh, 1997).

Due to abnormality of climatic pattern, there is prevalence of pre-monsoon, late snow fall,

heavy temperature rises and falls and other abnormal phenomenon affects the decision of

movement from one place to another as predetermined route of the Raute community.

Perception of Raute community towards the impact of climate change on Biodiversity

Resources

a) Impact of fire and famine occurrence on the availability of valuable biodiversity

resources

Due to frequently uncontrolled fire, long famine occurrence and biotic influence affect on the

continuous depletion of valuable biodiversity resources. Trend of depleting highly valuable

biodiversity resources such as Rheum australe, Dioscorea bulbifera, Juglans regia, Myrica

esculenta, Viscum album, Zanthoxylem armatum etc. are in substantial rate. (Please see annex

i)

Due to frequently and heavy fire occurrence, wildlife population has been found scarce in the

forest. Small animals particularly mammals, reptiles and insects such as rabbits, porcupines,

lizards, rodents, snakes, ants etc. are highly susceptible from the influence of fire. On the

39

principle of food web of forest ecosystem, large animals are highly affected when the small

animals are badly influenced.

Hence, the population of large animals such as tiger, leopard, deer, monkey, bear etc. have

been sharply declined.

Box (1) Experience of Main Bahadur Shahi, the Mukhiya of Raute

Raute community perceives constantly climate change and its widespread impact on the

livelihoods and biodiversity resources. They felt that they had not experienced a long famine

and uncontrolled heavy fire occurrence before three decades ago. According to Main Bahadur

Shahi, the Mukhiya of Raute ―There was a dense forest throughout the routes of our

movement; we rarely found the fire occurrence and famine about three decades ago; there

were huge numbers of wild animals and edible plants in the forest and we did not need to

move towards nearby villages for the searching of food grains‖. Mukhiya again says ―There

were a heavy deforestation, frequently fire occurrence and long famine resulted to the

continuous depletion of forest resources, and we were depend upon the adjoining villages for

supplying of food grains due to the availability of lower amounts of edible food in the forest‖.

Now the situation is very miserable for the Raute. ―Forest is heavily depleted; hence it is very

difficult to find edible food from the forest to sustain their livelihoods and now Raute have

mostly depend upon agriculture resource and government allowance to sustain their

livelihoods.‖

40

b) Determination of Vulnerable Floral Biodiversity Species associated with Raute

Community

The vulnerable valuable floral biodiversity species due to likelihood of climate change are

determined through Rapid Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) method.

Table (2) Determination of vulnerability of floral biodiversity through Rapid Vulnerability

Assessment (RVA) method.

Spec

ies

Abundan

ce

Gro

wth

Rep

roduct

ion

Pro

pag

atio

n

Hab

itat

Hab

itat

div

ersi

ty

Lif

e fo

rm

div

ersi

ty

Par

ts u

sed

Age

or

size

clas

s

det

erm

ined

S

core

Ran

k

Githa 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 I

Vyakur 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 I

Kurilo 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 I

Okhar 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 13 II

Jamun 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 16 III

Aiselu 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 17 III

Kaphal 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 16 III

Chutro 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 17 III

Mushrooms 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 I

Timur 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 14 II

On the basis of rapid vulnerability assessment criteria, floral biodiversity species that are

highly susceptible to endanger are determined by putting the scores (1) for the maximum

criteria and (2) for the minimum criteria. All the scores for individual species are summed up

and ranked first order for the scores below 10, second order for the scores (10-15) and third

order for the scores above 15. From the table, it shows that Githa, Vyakur, Kurilo and

mushrooms are the most vulnerable species ; Okhar and Timur are the minimum vulnerable

species ; and Jamun , Aiselu, Kaphal and Chutro are the least vulnerable species.

Raute community claims that there is a huge infestation of alien weeds from some decades in

the forest such as Banmara (Eupatorium odoratum, Lantana camara, Mycrantha spp.) and

41

alien plant in the wetland such as Jalkumbhi etc. This causes the massive disappearance of

regeneration of native plant species which directly affects on the availability of desired

valuable plant species. They claim that climate change must have some pivotal role in the

infestation of weeds and mass disruption of native plant species. Raute claims that if the

situation prevails in the current trend of alien weeds infestation, their livelihoods will be in

danger.

42

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND

SUGGESTIONS

Findings

Conclusions

Raute is an ethnic nomad community which temporarily lives in different places of mid- and

far western forest of mid-hills of Nepal. Raute has been dwindling condition in the aspect of

livelihoods, culture and associated biodiversity resources. Status of the livelihoods of the

Raute community is highly fragile and has been in poverty trap. Impact of climate change on

the livelihoods has been perceived in different aspects of the Raute community such as

housing structure, supplying daily needs of foods and their nutrition levels, wood carving and

pot making occupation, and decision of movement from one place to another. Similarly,

climate change also induces the events of fire and famine occurrence which affects to the

depletion of valuable biodiversity resources of plants and animals and encourages to the

infestation of alien weeds / plants of forests and wetlands associated with the Raute

community.

Suggestions

Government should provide training to the Raute community on wooden handicrafts and

wood carving to facilitate them to produce the goods as desired by the major market centers.

Besides providing allowances to the Raute community, Raute‘s wooden products should send

into fair trade which helps them to commercialize their products and might get additional

income. Besides that, it will support them to settle in a place permanently. Government

should encourage this community to live as permanent settlement. Adaptive measures from

the adverse climatic consequences should be provided to the community. Effective programs

should be implemented for the conservation of significant valuable biodiversity. Such

biodiversity and its associated knowledge, skill and technology should be documented and

43

properly registered. Besides that community forest user group should make a flexible

mechanism to sustain their livelihoods.

44

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Bhattachan, K.B. (2012). Country Technical Notes on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues Federal

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15, 2014.

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Fortier, J., and Rastogi, K. (2004). Sister Languages: Comparative Phonology of Two

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47

Rai, N.K. (1985). People of the Stones, the Chepangs of Central Nepal. Kathmandu: Centre

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on 2009-11-23.

48

Related Web-sites

1) http://blog.xnepali.com/2009/02/

2) http://colorfulnepal.com/myblog/rautes-in-nepal.html

3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer

4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raute

5) http://nomadicrautes.org.np/index.php?page=about

6) http://www.greenfacts.org/en/climate-change-ar4/index.htm

7) http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/9k.html

8) http://www.tacomaecclesia.net/raute.htm

9) http://www.unutki.org/news.php?news_id=95&doc_id=7

10) http://ecoholidayasia.com/raute-nomadic-ethnic-group-nepal

11) Nepali nomadic tribe struggles to stay in forest

http://www.upi.com/UPI-Next/2013/09/24/Nepali-nomadic-tribe-struggles-to-stay-in-

forest/31374579675397/

12) Raute population on the decline

http://nepalbreakingnews.com/raute-population-on-the-decline/3401/

13) Ensure Security of Raute Community: INSEC

https://www.nepalmonitor.org/index.php/reports/view/801

14) Nepal Raute

http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/nepal-raute-documentary-idea.html

49

15) Could Rautes, Kusundas, Chepangs, Rajis or Tharus be the first peoples to colonize the

Himalayas 7000 years ago?

http://nepaliaashish.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/could-rautes-kusundas-chepangs-rajis-or-

tharus-be-the-first-peoples-to-colonize-the-himalayas-7000-years-ago/

16) Rautes Learn Art of Rift

(http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/rising.detail.php?article_id=62255&cat_id=7)

50

ANNEXES

Annex I

Questionnaire Survey

1) Please tell me about your following details.

Name:

Age:

Address:

Spouse name:

Children: Male: Female:

No. of family members: Male: Female:

2) Please tell me about your profession.

Profession Highly

favored

Mostly

favored

fairly

favored

less favored Least

favored

Agriculture

Livestock

Forest based

Wage labors

Others

3) Which trees have you been used for making wooden products for sale?

...................... ........................ .......................... ..................... ..........................

4) What types of wooden products have you been produced?

51

...................... ........................ .......................... ..................... ..........................

5) Would you sell the wooden products either in cash or kinds? Tick one of the followings.

Cash Kinds Others

6) Which forest will you choose to cut the trees? Tick one of the followings.

Community forest Government managed forest Protected areas

7) What are the obstacles for harvesting trees?

i) Unable to pay taxes imposed by CFUG or DFO.

ii) Excluding as non-member of CFUG.

iii) Less availability of desired trees.

iv) Other obstacles:

8) What do you expect from the government and CFUG for resolving the problem?

DoF:

CFUG:

9) Which wild animals would you prefer for hunting?

Wild animals Highly

favored

Mostly

favored

fairly favored less favored Least favored

Others

10) Please tell me the name of vegetation supplying your basic dietary needs.

52

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

11) Please tell me the name of vegetation used for medicinal purposes.

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

12) Please tell me the activities which are prohibited culturally?

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

53

13) How do you perceive weather phenomenon from last thirty years till to date?

Weather phenomenon Increasing Decreasing Stable

Rainfall occurrence

Hurricane frequency

Winter duration

Summer duration

Drought prevalence

Fire incidence

14) Are your camping sites fixed traditionally or altered annually?

.....Fixed................ .............Altered.........

15) Did the weather uncertainty disturb shifting your camping sites?

.....Yes ............... .............No.........

16) What's your mechanism to adapt with unpredictable weather condition?

a) To camp nearby the village.

b) To make the hut with plastic and other materials.

c) others

17) Please tell me the trends of qualitative and quantitative supply of nutrition available

before 1990s, between 1990 and 2000 and after 2000.

S.N. Food Composition Trends of availability of

quantitative and qualitative food

material

Before

1990s

1990-2000 After

2000

54

1 Wild tubers, rhizomes and bulbs

2 Wild fruits, nuts and other edible forest

derivatives

3 Mushrooms, young shoots of bamboo and

Nigalo

4 Foliage based green vegetables such as

Niuro, Halhale etc.

5 Wild animals such as deer, monkey, rodents,

wild pig, birds etc

6 Agricultural products such as rice, wheat,

maize, corn, pulse, potato etc

7 Honey, Silajeet, etc

8 Fish, and others

Availability of food materials: High (3), Moderate (2), Low (1)

18) Due to climate variability, which floral biodiversity is becoming highly vulnerable?

Spec

ies

Abundan

ce

Gro

wth

Rep

roduct

ion

Pro

pag

atio

n

Hab

itat

Hab

itat

div

ersi

ty

Lif

e fo

rm

div

ersi

ty

Par

ts u

sed

Age

or

size

clas

s

det

erm

ined

S

core

Ran

k

Githa

Vyakur

Kurilo

Okhar

Jamun

Aiselu

Kaphal

Chutro

55

Mushrooms

Timur

On the basis of rapid vulnerability assessment criteria, floral biodiversity species that are

highly susceptible to endanger are determined by putting the scores (1) for the maximum

criteria and (2) for the minimum criteria.

19) What types of alien plants did you find in the forests which were not seen in the forests a

few decade before?

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

................ ......................... ...................... ....................... .......................

20) How are these alien plants influencing your livelihoods?

a) Inhibiting the regeneration/growth of favorable species.

b) Reducing the availability of food and shrinkage of habitats for wild animals (especially for

herbivores) due to invasion of alien plants

c) Increasing the incidences of disease out-burst and uncontrolled fire.

d) Others