Nepal’s government is allowing hydropower development inside protected areas, despite a January 2025 Supreme Court ruling that invalidates the legal provision for this activity.With the court’s full verdict still unpublished, the government has interpreted the ruling and continued to issue land-use and environmental permits.Mongabay’s investigation finds that 10 private hydropower projects, totaling more than 360 MW, have received permits since January 2026, affecting about 85 hectares across the Annapurna, Gaurishankar and Kanchanjunga protected areas, and the buffer zones of Makalu Barun and Langtang national parks.Officials say they are relying on 2023 guidelines and cabinet decisions covering projects licensed before July 2024, while the country’s wildlife department has continued approving feasibility studies, environmental assessments and transmission lines in protected-area buffer zones.
KATHMANDU – Nepal’s government has allowed several private hydropower producers to develop projects inside protected areas and the buffer zones surrounding them, contravening a Supreme Court order, a Mongabay investigation reveals.
In January 2025, the Supreme Court declared that a 2024 amendment to a key conservation law opening up protected areas to commercial projects was “invalid” as it was against the constitutionally defined state policy of environment-friendly development and the principle of intergenerational equity.
