Local

Twice today I sat on a bench in this lovely spot on Coe Fen, by the wall that backs onto Peterhouse. The period on the bench after work was to meet up with a colleague who’s recently left, and we were quite speedy on the ciders. By 7pm I was drunk, had joined a wider group of colleagues and was having to remember how to pronounce Cuvée des Vignerons when buying a round for those who were on the wine.

I was reviewing an external communications document today, and the conservation sector needs to start taking issue with overuse of the word ‘local’. People and groups who live closest to sites of high biodiversity are often described as ‘local communities’. This is in contrast to the presumed ‘international’ people who are the ones writing about the ‘locals’, being benevolent towards them and calling for change. It feels patronising to depict others as passive. They are not; but they often have not historically held the balance of power around their own resources, which is a status quo that this language upholds. I don’t know why we can’t just reframe this across the board to be less cringeworthy, and from now on describe people as the chief decision makers around biodiversity on their doorsteps.