DEFENDING THE KOSHI

Southeastern Nepal

Producing, Photography, Videography, Editing

As Nepal and India push to construct a high dam on the Koshi River in Nepal, a group of indigenous people continues to prevent further progress towards this goal. Though the dam offers many benefits to millions of Nepalese and Indian citizens, such as reliable electricity, better healthcare, flood management, infrastructure development and an improved standard of living, those who thwart the building of the dam fear it will destroy their way of life. They cite loss of their homes and land, their holy sites and loss of their culture as to why they oppose the dam. Theirs is not so much a story about who owns the natural resources, but rather, who owns the right to determine ones future. It is more a story of progress versus tradition, self-determination versus assimilation. It’s a story of a small group of indigenous people choosing their own destiny at the cost of the greater good.

This project was supported by a grant awarded by The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Awards and Screenings

• 1st Place, Illinois Best of Multimedia, 2013
• 2nd Place, Illinois Best of Student Multimedia, 2013
• Guyon Auditorium, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, December 2013
• State Department Earth Day Film Festival, Washington D.C., April 2014
• Little Muddy Film Festival, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, May 2014