diff --git a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
index edd9138810..2dfe30296a 100644
--- a/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
+++ b/build-support/macros-and-definitions.cmake
@@ -541,7 +541,9 @@ macro(process_options)
     if(${SQLite3_FOUND})
       set(ENABLE_SQLITE True)
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_SQLITE3)
-      include_directories(${SQLite3_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+        include_directories(${SQLite3_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      endif()
     endif()
   endif()
 
@@ -560,7 +562,9 @@ macro(process_options)
 
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_EIGEN3)
       add_definitions(-DEIGEN_MPL2_ONLY)
-      include_directories(${EIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR})
+      if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+        include_directories(${EIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR})
+      endif()
     else()
       set(ENABLE_EIGEN_REASON "Eigen was not found")
     endif()
@@ -588,7 +592,9 @@ macro(process_options)
               "GTK3 found with incompatible version ${GTK3_VERSION}"
           )
         else()
-          include_directories(${GTK3_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${HarfBuzz_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+          if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+            include_directories(${GTK3_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${HarfBuzz_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+          endif()
         endif()
       endif()
 
@@ -615,7 +621,9 @@ macro(process_options)
       set(LIBXML2_FOUND_REASON "LibXML2 was not found")
     else()
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_LIBXML2)
-      include_directories(${LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIR})
+      if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+        include_directories(${LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIR})
+      endif()
     endif()
   endif()
 
@@ -662,7 +670,9 @@ macro(process_options)
           set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH "${DEVELOPER_DIR}" CACHE STRING "")
         endif()
       endif()
-      include_directories(${Python3_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+        include_directories(${Python3_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      endif()
     else()
       message(${HIGHLIGHTED_STATUS}
               "Python: development libraries were not found"
@@ -847,7 +857,9 @@ macro(process_options)
   mark_as_advanced(Boost_INCLUDE_DIR)
   find_package(Boost)
   if(${Boost_FOUND})
-    include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+      include_directories(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    endif()
     set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
   endif()
 
@@ -859,7 +871,9 @@ macro(process_options)
     else()
       message(STATUS "GSL was found.")
       add_definitions(-DHAVE_GSL)
-      include_directories(${GSL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      if(NOT ${NS3_FORCE_LOCAL_DEPENDENCIES})
+        include_directories(${GSL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      endif()
     endif()
   endif()