Paper short abstract:

Here the scalar disjunctions in building a climate scientific community in Mexico under poor institutional conditions and a contentious political landscape are analyzed. Through RCS production it is discussed the interactions between local knowledge-making and ignorance production.

Paper long abstract:

The geographies of climate knowledge-making in the Global South remain largely underrepresented (Hochsprung & Mahony 2019). There is no sufficient understanding of the scientific and political dynamics in which poor countries, lacking climate knowledge infrastructures and under contradictory political landscapes develop their local climate research agenda. Even less well understood is how local scientific knowledge contributes to robust adaptation decision-making. This paper seeks to contribute to expanding this debate by looking at the case of Mexico.

This paper aims to discuss the performative role that Regional Climate Scenarios (RCS) have in the interface between climate science and policy in Mexico. I argue that despite the critiques that RCS has received due to its top-down scientific design and the assumption that they will lead to better adaptation policies (Dessai et al. 2009), these are powerful tools in geographies at the margin that allow us to grasp the local institutional and political conditions in which climate science and policy is being produced. As well as they allow us to see what research questions remain not being asked, the misleading climate political narratives, and the delayed adaptation policies. Through interviews with scientists and policymakers involved in RCS making, this paper unveils the scalar disjunctions between committing to the international climate agenda, having a contingent climate science production, and not knowing the climate vulnerabilities of the country. Thus, this case offers elements to illustrate the strategic environmental production of knowledge and ignorance that suit political contradictory ends (Parsons 2022).