T(r)opical translations: reterritorialising the space of biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Introduction: This working paper explores the local expression of global environmental narratives. How do universal ideas shape new spaces, subjects and institutions? How do local natures and peoples, in turn, influence and reshape the global narratives themselves? My particular focus is the deployment of discourses of biodiversity in tropical non-Western settings, especially their application in integrated conservation and development projects. The paper questions the dominant global understanding and practice of biodiversity by placing it within a social and cultural context, and through the consideration of local cases aims to tease out various ‘cultures’ of biodiversity conservation. I highlight the interaction between culture and the science and practice of biodiversity in order to stretch biodiversity so as to accommodate other voices, meanings and articulations. Finally, I try to rethink biodiversity as a dynamic and transformative ‘meshwork’ and imagine a diversity of biodiversities.