Local knowledge in the hands of transnational NGO networks: a Mexican viewpoint

Environmental NGOs (ENGOs) have played a major role in promoting the inclusion and advancement of local knowledge – and, indeed, environmental issues as a whole – in international negotiations, not least through the discussions surrounding the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This NGO nebula, however, should no longer be regarded as a coherent body of actors championing the same cause in international arenas. On the contrary, the past twenty years have seen a significant degree of diversification in the way in which they participate in a political world order and environmental field that have themselves undergone deeprooted change. Nowadays, it seems that each ENGO must be analysed according to its position within a transnational network rather than as an individual actor. This article begins with the example of the correlation between international arenas and the national arenas of Mexico in order to recall how their roles have changed. The decision to do so is based on the belief that it is in exploring that correlation, rather than just the international debate, that one can best measure how much progress has actually been made in regard to the issue of local knowledge. The concept of sustainable development, which serves as a common focus for transnational environmental protection networks, is ambiguous and provides little more than a starting-point for the discussions. The issues involved in that concept have rapidly given rise to contradictory positions, with divergent political opinions on solutions to the global environmental crisis. The upshot is that the various ENGO networks are not all pursuing the same ends. Within this already fragmented context, the reappearance of the issue of local knowledge is furthermore linked to the mobilisation of indigenous peoples and the debate on financial remuneration for intellectual property rights. Understandably, while some scientists may well defend such knowledge for its own sake, the advancement of the issue in international arenas has also provided a good many opportunities for its exploitation. Drawing on the transnational political approach, together with field surveys carried out in Mexico and at the NGOs’ international headquarters, this article describes how the transnational networks handle local knowledge when they enter the international fray. As a subject circulating in international arenas, ‘‘local knowledge’’ should preferably be defined from a constructivist point of view. Ultimately, most of the current thinking about local knowledge comes from actors with an international understanding of the problems; David Dumoulin is a lecturer and researcher at the Institut des Hautes Etudes d’Amérique Latine, University of Paris 3, France, where he is an associate member of the Centre de Recherche et Documentation sur l’Amérique Latine (CREDAL). He is a participant in the interdisciplinary ONG et Biodiversité project and works in comparative politics and the sociology of transnational relations, especially on environmental and multicultural issues in Latin America. He has published, on the concept of global public goods, ‘‘Les aires protégées, de l’Humanité aux populations locales’’, in Constantin, F. 2002. Les biens publics mondiaux: un mythe légitimateur pour l’action collective? Paris: L’Harmattan, 269–306. Email: [email protected].