Land issues have always remained as one of the contentious issues in Nepal. Land conflicts in the country have multiple dimensions and most common form of land conflicts include inheritance conflicts among family members, boundary conflicts between neighbours, conflict between landless people and government authorities or local communities, and conflict between land owners and tenants, among others. Land conflicts are exacerbated by the self-centred attitude of a multitude of actors, who engage in land grabbing, use public and private land illegally, manipulate the land market to their advantage owing to their power and position and engage in nepotism and corruption. As widely known, land conflicts are also the reflection of deep-rooted societal conflicts born out of inequality or unfair distribution of wealth, discrimination of women or ethnic minorities, and marginalized communities’ lack of voice and power.    

This report analyses the microdynamics of land conflicts in Nepal and classifies local level land conflicts into different categories, namely political, socioeconomic, and legal or administrative. In addition to an overview of land dispute resolution mechanisms available in Nepal, the report also identifies limitations of these mechanisms in resolving these conflicts. Lastly, the report provides a set of recommendations for possible institutional, policy and pragmatic solution to resolve protracted land conflicts in Nepal.