Good Living and Indigenous Potatoes 95
conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities (ICCA).
11 First, the
population in question must live in close connection with the associated territory. Second, the communities must play a major role in decision-making concerning the management of the territory and the implementation of decisions.
Last, the population must ensure that the nature of the area, as well as the cultural
values linked to it, is conserved. The Park has been a pioneering example of this
type of protected area
12 (Borrini-Feyerabend et al., 2013; Kothari et al., 2014),
now considered by the IUCN as a new conservation paradigm (Stevens, 2014).
The relevance of this paradigm is discussed in the framework of the CBD and in
the working group corresponding to article 8 ( j), dedicated to in situ conservation and to indigenous and local communities. At the 2008 IUCN Congress, a
group was created to promote this new type of protected area, called the ICCA
Consortium.
The Potato Park was created in 1996, with support from the Peruvian NGO
ANDES, which, the previous year, had begun to document the knowledge of
peasants with the help of a group of volunteers (Argumedo, 2008; Argumedo
& Stenner, 2008). At this time, six communities were involved in the project.
ANDES is run by two brothers originally from the Ayacucho region – Cesar and
Alejandro Argumedo – both engineers, one educated in Peru and the other in
Canada (Montréal). Coming from a middle-class background, they are concerned
by environmental matters and by the precarity in which the Andean peasant population lives. One brother overseas local activities, while the other is in charge of
links with international partners and institutions. Since the beginning, conserving agrobiodiversity and recognizing the value of knowledge held by peasants
concerning potatoes have been at the heart of the NGO’s project. At first, the
team was made up mainly of Peruvians, most of them Q uechua-speakers engineers like the two directors. ANDES quickly turned into a project for the in situ
conservation of indigenous domesticated potato biodiversity (Argumedo, 2008).
It has organized various activities, using funding from various sources. Despite
initial difficulties, a solution has been found for the Park’s governance (Argumedo
& Stenner, 2008): the Association of Potato Park communities
13 has been constituted and registered with the Peruvian public registry. The directing body (“the
office”) which presides over this association is now made up of the presidents
of the different communities involved, so that the Park’s governance is aligned
with that of each community
14 . At present, the Park is relatively w ell-established
locally and is recognized as an independent entity by the municipality of Pisac,
as well as by various institutions from the local to the international level. Since
March 2020, the 25th anniversary of ANDES, it is officially recognized by the
Peruvian government as a zone of agrobiodiversity (zona de agrobiodiversidad).
In the Potato Park, emphasis is placed not only on the in situ conservation of
plant material, but also on the cultural dimension of this conservation; this is why
the decision was taken to use the term “area of indigenous biocultural heritage”
rather than ICCA (Argumedo, 2008). This orientation toward the development
of biocultural rights is considered highly important for ANDES. In the Park,
conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities (ICCA).
11 First, the
population in question must live in close connection with the associated territory. Second, the communities must play a major role in decision-making concerning the management of the territory and the implementation of decisions.
Last, the population must ensure that the nature of the area, as well as the cultural
values linked to it, is conserved. The Park has been a pioneering example of this
type of protected area
12 (Borrini-Feyerabend et al., 2013; Kothari et al., 2014),
now considered by the IUCN as a new conservation paradigm (Stevens, 2014).
The relevance of this paradigm is discussed in the framework of the CBD and in
the working group corresponding to article 8 ( j), dedicated to in situ conservation and to indigenous and local communities. At the 2008 IUCN Congress, a
group was created to promote this new type of protected area, called the ICCA
Consortium.
The Potato Park was created in 1996, with support from the Peruvian NGO
ANDES, which, the previous year, had begun to document the knowledge of
peasants with the help of a group of volunteers (Argumedo, 2008; Argumedo
& Stenner, 2008). At this time, six communities were involved in the project.
ANDES is run by two brothers originally from the Ayacucho region – Cesar and
Alejandro Argumedo – both engineers, one educated in Peru and the other in
Canada (Montréal). Coming from a middle-class background, they are concerned
by environmental matters and by the precarity in which the Andean peasant population lives. One brother overseas local activities, while the other is in charge of
links with international partners and institutions. Since the beginning, conserving agrobiodiversity and recognizing the value of knowledge held by peasants
concerning potatoes have been at the heart of the NGO’s project. At first, the
team was made up mainly of Peruvians, most of them Q uechua-speakers engineers like the two directors. ANDES quickly turned into a project for the in situ
conservation of indigenous domesticated potato biodiversity (Argumedo, 2008).
It has organized various activities, using funding from various sources. Despite
initial difficulties, a solution has been found for the Park’s governance (Argumedo
& Stenner, 2008): the Association of Potato Park communities
13 has been constituted and registered with the Peruvian public registry. The directing body (“the
office”) which presides over this association is now made up of the presidents
of the different communities involved, so that the Park’s governance is aligned
with that of each community
14 . At present, the Park is relatively w ell-established
locally and is recognized as an independent entity by the municipality of Pisac,
as well as by various institutions from the local to the international level. Since
March 2020, the 25th anniversary of ANDES, it is officially recognized by the
Peruvian government as a zone of agrobiodiversity (zona de agrobiodiversidad).
In the Potato Park, emphasis is placed not only on the in situ conservation of
plant material, but also on the cultural dimension of this conservation; this is why
the decision was taken to use the term “area of indigenous biocultural heritage”
rather than ICCA (Argumedo, 2008). This orientation toward the development
of biocultural rights is considered highly important for ANDES. In the Park,