University of California International and Area Studies

The important role of knowledge about global climate change in environmental governance is investigated in this paper. The relationship between more and less ‘global’ and ‘local’ forms of knowledge in climate governance has implications for international norms of justice, national sovereignty and human and national security. This paper attempts to show how the simultaneous and seemingly contradictory trends of ‘globalizing’ and ‘localizing’ in climate governance actually serve to help legitimize different forms of knowledge. The discussion is grounded in a case study of Tuvalu, a low-lying atoll nation in the South Pacific. The Tuvaluan government’s engagement with discourses of global climate change and traditional environmental knowledge illustrate the nation’s attempts to maintain legitimacy in the face of undermining ecological devastation in the eyes of other nations and international investors as well as in the eyes of Tuvaluans. The paper brings together elements from a wider conversation in anthropology, science and technology studies, and political sciences.