The Creation of Nepal’s Rice-growing Plain: Water Management and Territorialization Processes in the Sunsari District
Résumé
The Nepalese plain, a formerly marginalised area, has undergone dramatic changes over the last fifty years to become Nepal’s granary. This process derives from an ancient ideology that led to the introduction of land policies and then of large hydraulic infrastructures. This paper studies the subsequent changes in the population’s relationship to land and water, and in the territoriality of the different groups of actors involved. It analyses the co-construction of the management of hydraulic facilities through social dynamics and its imprint on the territory. It also demonstrates how the former marginalised situation can explain certain social conflicts, which can be observed in the management of water resources.