Reversing Climatisation: Transnational Grassroots Networks and Territorial Security Discourse in a Fragmented Global Climate Governance

Abstract

Created in 2010 during the international climate conference in Cancún, Mexico, the Mesoamerican alliance of peoples and forests (AMPB) lobbies for the recognition of territorial rights, which it frames as a fundamental safeguard in the global fight against climate change. On the one hand, it seeks to participate in global climate arenas, so as to capture the wide political and financial opportunities this context offers. On the other hand, it contests the “over-climatisation” of international debates, fearing that this would side-line the active historical role of local and indigenous communities in forest conservation and carbon storage. The paper examines the strategies mobilised by transnational grassroots networks ahead, during and beyond COP21 considered as a critical moment in global climate governance. One of the main results relates to the existence of a reversed climatisation process after the failed attempts to position territorial security issues in climate arenas.