Gaining public acceptance : dialogue on dams and development in Nepal

This report “Gaining Public Acceptance” is one of the four products of the dialogue on dams and development Phase II facilitated by IUCN Nepal since 2002 and participated in by government institutions, national and international non-governmental organizations, academicians, private companies, and activists. This report analyzes the provisions related to public consultation during development of dam related projects. The study shows that Nepal's legal provisions protect the need and requirement of stakeholder consultation for sustainable project implementation, addressing the concerns of public consultations as provisioned in the World Commission on Dams to gain their acceptance while implementing the project. It was encouraging to find that environmental assessment process rigorously involves public before projects are approved by the government, thereby evolving a sense of ownership of projects under implementation.