सूचक

• Nepal has ratified various international conventions that define and provide guidance for respecting and protecting knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including the ILO Convention 169, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits, among others.

•  The Constitution of Nepal (2015) establishes strong legal protection for the culture, traditional knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Article 18 allows the Government to enact special measures for the protection and development of marginalised groups, while Article 51(j)(8) commits the State to safeguarding and promoting Indigenous knowledge, traditional skills, culture and social traditions. Article 40(4) specifically guarantees Dalit communities the right to protect and develop their traditional occupations, knowledge and skills.

• The Forest Act (2019) provides a legal framework that recognises customary forest-management practices within Community-based Forest Management (CBFM) systems. By granting legal authority to forest user groups to manage forests through operational plans, the Act protects Indigenous and customary knowledge embedded in forest stewardship systems.

• Nepal’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) (2014-2020) recognises Indigenous and local knowledge as essential to biodiversity conservation and commits to respecting, preserving and promoting traditional knowledge, skills and innovations, including equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use.

• The Forest Policy (2019) and National Environment Policy (2019) explicitly require the recording, preservation and application of traditional and local knowledge in forest and environmental management, linking cultural practices to sustainable use and conservation outcomes.

• The National Wetland Policy (2012) also recognises the value of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ knowledge, skills, and practices in research and innovation for the sustainable management and use of wetland resources (Objective 4.2).

• The National REDD+ Strategy (2018-2022) and the updated National REDD+ Strategy (2025-2034) emphasise recognition and protection of customary practices, traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous forest management systems as central elements of rights‑based REDD+ implementation.

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• The Indigenous Nationalities Commission (INC) Act (2017) states that the INC is to conduct studies to protect the rights and interests of Indigenous nationalities and shall protect and promote traditional skills, technology and special knowledge existing within Indigenous nationalities and assist in its application for commercial use.
   

• The NEDFIN Act (2002) establishes the functions, duties and powers of the Foundation, which include promoting and preserving traditional Indigenous knowledge, culture and languages, and establishing archives and schools to teach the languages of Indigenous communities.

• The Traditional Knowledge Database of Nepal (TKDN) compiles information about traditional knowledge related to plant resources to support the preservation and dissemination of such types of knowledge, including information from the public domain on uses of plants by local communities.

• The Forest Regulation (2022) establishes procedures for integrating traditional knowledge and customary practices into forest management. Rule 15 and Schedule 24 require Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) and other CBFM regimes to incorporate traditional forest management knowledge and practices into approved operational plans. Rule 107 specifies that forest carbon programs should not have any adverse effect on the social, economic and cultural rights of the local community or on their traditional knowledge and practices.

• CBFM institutions (including CFUGs, Leasehold Forest Groups, and others) provide the primary institutional mechanism for recognising and applying Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ knowledge and customary practices in forest management. These groups prepare and implement forest operational plans through participatory processes, which are reviewed and approved by Divisional Forest Offices, thereby formally embedding traditional practices within statutory forest management systems. Procedures for forest operational planning require documentation of local forest use practices, customary management systems and community priorities, ensuring that Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices are reflected in forest management activities.

• Nepal ratified the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) in 2018. Nepal has been developing a draft ABS Act, which seeks to establish mechanisms for the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities over biological and genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, and fair and equitable benefit-sharing. While this Act remains in draft, MoFE has advanced its development, including through a Position Paper for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (October 2021).

• Nepal's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) (2014-2020) included principles and strategies for the protection and promotion of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities relevant to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. These provisions are being carried forward in the revised NBSAP (2025-2030), whose preparation involved a dedicated Sub-Committee of Indigenous and local community representatives from NEFIN, FECOFUN and other organisations.

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