Protect Dolpa's Cultural Heritage

Dolpa is one of Nepal’s remotest, most isolated regions. This part of the Himalayan range is sparsely populated with some of the highest permanent human settlements. To the north, Dolpa borders the Tibetan plateau. This upper part of the Dolpa district is commonly known as Dolpo. To the east, west and south, Dolpa borders the Nepali mountain districts of Mustang, Jumla, Mugu, Myagdi, Rukum and Jajarkot.

Dolpa is widely known for its stunning natural beauty and sacred pilgrimage sites. It is home to turquoise lakes, sacred mountains and a stunning biodiversity that includes yartsa gunbhu, snow leopards, musk deer, blue sheep, and a wide variety of plants used for medicinal purposes. The gonpas (monasteries) and stupas spread across the Dolpa landscape are often centuries-old and continue to play a central role in the life of the Dolpopa (people of Dolpa).

But like many other communities worldwide, the Dolpopa are losing their cultural and natural heritage due to ongoing foreign demand. To put it simply: people outside of Dolpa pay a lot of money for Dolpa’s cultural heritage, such as statues, thangkas, and other cultural and religious items. Because of this, cultural items are stolen from sites of worship or people’s houses and sold for profit. These items then end up in private and public collections elsewhere, such as museums.

When I travelled to Dolpa for the first time last year to research the looting and trafficking of its cultural and natural heritage, I was struck by its stunning natural and cultural beauty. The rugged landscape provides the backdrop for the amazing cultural expressions of Dolpopa. The gonpas and stupas that are scattered across the landscape, and the traditions and rituals that surrounded them, were such a privilege to experience. Dolpa's cultural and natural heritage have inspired many outsiders. But this means that Dolpa's cultural objects have been and continue to be looted. There was no gonpa or stupa I visited in Upper or Lower Dolpa that did not have one or more incidents of theft. Talking about this is painful, but necessary to work towards solutions. And so as a criminologist, I became interested in community-based opportunities for crime prevention.

As part of a project for the University of Glasgow we developed a storybook about this topic, titled Pema and the Stolen Statue from Dolpa . The storybook is about Pema, a brave and confident girl from Dolpa who goes on an adventure to return one of Dolpa’s many stolen statues. The illustrated story, with text in Tibetan, Nepali and English, highlights the beauty of Dolpa’s unique cultural and natural heritage, and how we should all come together to protect it.

We hope that this trilingual storybook will stimulate awareness and knowledge exchange around looting and trafficking of cultural objects within Dolpa communities and ultimately inspire increased custodianship and protection. This storybook, beautifully illustrated by Krisha Tamrakar of Artudio (Nepal), is the first of its kind to address this issue - not only in Nepal, but globally. The storybook was launched in Kathmandu on 3 December 2022 at the Taragaon Next, and accompanied by an exclusive museum exhibition of four Dolpa artists (curated by Emiline Smith).

Most books in Dolpa schools are in Nepali or English instead of Tibetan (Dolpa's main spoken language) and do not reflect the realities of Dolpa life. We therefore specifically intended for the illustrations in this book to be as representative of Dolpa as possible. This book was a passion project, supported financially by the ESRC in the UK, but more importantly, generously supported by countless friends who gave their time to proofread, translate, and advise and provide a more in-depth understanding of Dolpa. The book is distributed for free to all Dolpa schools and communities.

But more help is needed to assist Dolpa communities in the protection and repatriation of their cultural and natural resources. With your donations, we will purchase stronger locks and other security measures to protect gonpas and cultural objects across Dolpa. And so we ask that you donate whatever you can to support these efforts.

Please note: no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.