Ancestral Wisdom for the Challenges of the Future

In a small farming village in the hills of Nepal, women in bright pink and red saris are picking aromatic herbs. They are not cooking food, but creating an innovative product: biofertilizer based on a centuries-old recipe.¹Meanwhile, in the densely populated Kathmandu Valley, residents gather at an ancient stone spring that was recently brought back to life by the community itself.²Far from sterile labs and tech startups, these scenes represent the cutting edge of a new but deep-rooted trend in Nepal.

In the face of contemporary challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity and rapid urbanisation, Nepal is turning to its most valuable and renewable asset – the age-old wisdom of its people and the power of collective action. This is not just a nostalgic return to the past, but a dynamic process of adapting traditional knowledge to create sustainable, low-cost and remarkably effective solutions.⁴In this article, we look at three key areas where this trend is most evident: forest and water management, agricultural innovation, and the living legacy of traditional medicine. All of these areas share a common theme: the power of communities to take control of the future by drawing on the wisdom of the past.

Land and Forest in Community Hands: Sustainability through Collective Management

Pragmatic responses to real crises often drive the most effective innovations. When centralized approaches fail to address environmental and humanitarian challenges, Nepalese communities turn to time-tested, decentralized models that they can control. This demonstrates that traditional systems are highly resilient and adaptable, especially in forest and water management.

Forest Revival: Community Forestry Success

In the recent past, Nepal has faced a serious environmental problem – rapid deforestation, which has resulted in the country losing more than 2.2 million acres of forest cover.⁵In response to this crisis, the innovative Community Forestry Programme was launched, placing forest management directly into the hands of local communities through Community Forest User Groups (CFUs).⁶Organisations such as the Federation of Community Forestry Users (FECOFUN) have become driving forces in this process.⁵

The results have exceeded all expectations. Today, GOL successfully manages thousands of hectares of forest, which has led to a significant reduction in deforestation, restoration of degraded lands and an increase in wildlife numbers.⁷Moreover, these efforts help mitigate the impact of natural disasters such as soil erosion and landslides, protecting villages and farmland.⁷

The programme’s success is largely due to the integration of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, of whom there are more than 45 ethnic groups in Nepal, into formally approved forest management plans.⁷This has become an example of formalizing informal practices of rational use of resources. In addition, the program promotes social equality: in the executive committees of GOL, mandatory 50% representation of women is required, which expands their rights and opportunities in decision-making.⁸

But this success has also generated tensions. Although the law recognizes community rights, the government is sometimes reluctant to hand over control of commercially valuable forests and can unilaterally declare community lands “protected forests,” which infringes on the rights of local residents.⁷This highlights that the long-term success of such initiatives depends on real, rather than declarative, empowerment of communities.

Living Water of Kathmandu: Revival of Ancient Hiti Systems

The Kathmandu Valley is facing an acute water crisis. Rapid population growth has meant that the demand for water (around 470 million litres per day) is many times greater than the supply of municipal systems (around 106 million litres per day).⁹This has led to the depletion of groundwater and the drying up of hundreds of ancient rock springs known as hit.¹⁰

System hit — is an ingenious engineering network created over 1,500 years ago. It uses gravity to collect, filter, and distribute water from underground aquifers and storage ponds through a network of canals (rajkulo).³These systems, built from local materials, not only provided residents with clean water, but also had deep cultural and religious significance, serving as centers of community life.²

Today, faced with the inefficiencies of current systems, local communities and municipalities in cities like Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Godavari are taking the lead in rebuildinghit.¹⁴This is a shining example of collective intelligence in action, where traditional knowledge is integrated with modern scientific approaches to address water security.¹⁰For example, in the Alkohiti restoration project in Patan, the community not only revived a historic spring but also created a system for distributing water to households, proving that ancient infrastructure can effectively serve modern needs.¹⁴

These efforts highlight the deep interconnectedness of ecosystems. Successful forest management, as discussed above, directly impacts water resources. Healthy forests act as natural “sponges,” replenishing underground aquifers that feed systems.hit.¹²Thus, caring for forests becomes an investment in the water security of cities.

Innovation in the Garden: Agribusiness Inspired by Tradition

Economic pragmatism is often the main driver for innovation. For Nepal’s resource-poor smallholder farmers¹⁸, the transition to low-cost organic methods based on tradition is not just an ideological choice, but an economically viable and sustainable solution.

“Jholmal” – Fertility Recipe from Local Plants

Nepal’s agriculture faces a serious problem: over-reliance on expensive imported chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Their use depletes the soil, pollutes the water, harms biodiversity and places a heavy financial burden on farmers.²⁰

The answer to this challenge was the traditional practice of “Jholmal” (Jholmal) is a home-made biofertilizer and biopesticide. It is a fermented mixture prepared from readily available local ingredients: animal urine (cows, buffaloes), manure, water and various plants with insecticidal and repellent properties, such as nettle, wormwood (Artemisia), him and others.¹

This practice is not just a “folk remedy”. International and local organizations like ICIMOD and BBP Pariwar study and optimize the formulation of Jholmal to recommend specific mixtures for different crops. In this way, traditional knowledge is formalized and scientifically validated.1The success of the practice is so obvious that the Nepalese government is supporting its expansion to other parts of the country.24

Women Lead the Green Revolution

Women play a key role in this movement. A prominent example is the farmers’ group Jwaladevi, whose members are collectively reviving and improving the practice of “Jholmal”.¹Their work is a well-oiled process: they collect ingredients together, prepare the mixture in large plastic barrels and share their experiences with each other.

Their recipe is simple and effective:

1. Collect 30 kg of tender leaves and branches of plants with bitter, spicy or milky juice (neem, wormwood, Chinese berry, etc.).
2. Finely chop the leaves and mix with 5 kg of cow dung and 5 liters of water.
3. Add 2 kg of crushed garlic, Sichuan pepper and other spices.
4. Place the mixture in a 60-liter barrel and fill it with cow urine. Stir weekly for three weeks.
5. The finished concentrate should be diluted with water before use: in a ratio of 1:7 for young plants and 1:4 for mature crops.¹

These activities go far beyond farming. They strengthen social networks, empowering women by giving them control over farming processes and financial decisions, which increases their authority in the community.¹Women become not just participants, but true leaders and catalysts for innovation, transforming individual knowledge into powerful community practice.

Beyond Jholmal: Other Agro-Traditions

Jholmal is just one part of Nepal’s vast system of traditional agricultural knowledge. For centuries, farmers have used techniques such as terrace farming on steep slopes, crop rotation with legumes to enrich the soil with nitrogen, the use of compost, and green manure (ploughing fresh plants into the soil).²⁵

One unique practice is the “Bung” method, common in the eastern hills for growing potatoes. Farmers leave the land fallow for 4-5 years to allow it to become overgrown with weeds. They then cut the vegetation along with a thin layer of soil, pile it up, burn it, and mix the ashes with the soil to create highly fertile pits for planting. The yield from such plots is significantly higher than with conventional methods.²⁶This is another example of deep, localized knowledge that is perfectly adapted to local conditions.

Treasures of the Himalayas: Traditional Medicine and Living Heritage

Traditional knowledge in Nepal does not separate care for nature, agriculture and human health. These spheres are perceived as a single whole. Successful forest management and conservation of biodiversity directly provide the basis for food security and community health, which is most clearly demonstrated in traditional medicine.

Nature’s Pharmacy: Ayurveda and Medicinal Plants of Nepal

Traditional medicine, particularly Ayurveda, is deeply rooted in Nepalese culture. It is estimated to be used by between 75% and 90% of the population, particularly in rural and remote areas, where it is often the only form of medical care available.²⁷The Government of Nepal officially recognizes Ayurveda, Yoga and other traditional health systems, integrating them into national strategies.²⁹

The basis of this natural pharmacy is the country’s unique biodiversity. From the Himalayan peaks to the tropical lowlands, there are thousands of species of medicinal plants whose healing properties have been studied and used by local healers for centuries.³⁰Thus, preserving this knowledge is inextricably linked to protecting ecosystems.⁴

Table 1: Selected medicinal plants of Nepal and their traditional uses

Community Medicine: Healers and Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants and methods of treatment is passed down from generation to generation, often within families. Traditional healers, known asBaidhyas, play a key role in the community health system.²⁸Their practice, like that of the family of Vaidya Man Bajra Bajracharya, which has a history of 800 years, is a living legacy.³⁵

The demand for traditional medicine is explained by its availability, relative cheapness and cultural proximity.²⁸However, this heritage is under threat. Environmental degradation, deforestation and climate change are leading to the disappearance of many medicinal plants.³⁰This, in turn, means that the knowledge associated with them is at risk of disappearing. This highlights the urgent need for comprehensive conservation measures and documentation of this priceless heritage.³⁰

Conclusion: From Local Solutions to Global Inspiration

Examples of community forestry, systems revitalization hiti, the use of Jholmal biofertilizer, and the living practice of Ayurveda are not isolated success stories. They are manifestations of the same powerful phenomenon: the ability of local communities to use their collective intelligence and traditional knowledge to create sustainable, self-sufficient, and culturally appropriate solutions.

Of course, there remain significant challenges along the way. Social inequalities, particularly gender and caste barriers, continue to limit access to education and resources for the most vulnerable groups, such as women and Dalits.36The success of community initiatives requires stronger and more consistent government support, resolving conflicts between centralized control and community autonomy, and creating financial mechanisms to support these projects.7

Yet Nepal’s experience has a powerful and inspiring message. It shows that innovation can be inclusive, low-cost, and in harmony with nature. It is a model that can serve as an example for other countries seeking sustainable development. Nepal’s story reminds us that sometimes, to confidently step into the future, we need to look back with respect and attention to the wisdom of the past.ologies speak with a distinct local accent.d restore hope for the future of its citizens in their native land.

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