ANDES

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SECOND INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON “DESIGN, PLANNING AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF BIOCULTURAL TERRITORIES AS
AGROBIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AREAS”

SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION ON BIODIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT

12-23 NOVEMBER 2010
CUSCO, PERU

Organized and hosted by

ASSOCIATION ANDES
&
ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITIES OF THE POTATO PARK

The Asociacion ANDES and the Association of Communities of the Potato Park in announce the upcoming Workshop on ‘Designing, Planning and Implementing Biocultural Territories as Agrobiodiversity Conservation Areas’, to take place in Cusco and the Potato Park, Cusco, Peru November 12 – 23, 2010. This workshop, the second of its kind to be hosted by ANDES and the Potato Park, is being organized within the framework of the ‘Multi Year Plan of Action for South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development’ of the CBD, as adopted at COP 10.

This workshop will take place in the Potato Park, an Indigenous Biocultural Territory conservation model established by Association ANDES-IIED and six Quechua communities in Pisaq, Cusco, Peru. The Potato Park has become an internationally recognized hands-on example and demonstrative case of a biocultural approach for an effective plant genetic resources conservation and endogenous development model. The replication and scaling up of this experience can play an important role in the promotion of effective conservation-development models based on indigenous territoriality. This model not only responds to local socioeconomic interests, but it is also an effective conduit for the implementation of international frameworks such as the UNDRIPs, CBD and FAO’s ITPGRFA.

The Potato Park protects a traditional mountain agroecosystem and one of the richest native potato diversity areas in the world. The area is considered to be one of the centers of origin of the potato. Within this biocultural hot-spot, sessions will take place in Traditional Knowledge Centre in Sacaca, as well as in the craft centre of Pampallaqta, the restaurant in Chawaytire, and in other field sites. Researchers, practitioners, and farmers from Ethiopia, Tajikistan and Kyrgystan, and members of Quechua farming communities from Cusco, Peru will engage in cooperative learning activities to acquire tools to design, plan and implement Agrobiodiversity Conservation Areas.

The workshop brings together indigenous peoples from different geographical and biocultural regions of the world to learn about designing, planning, implementing and managing Agrobiodiversity Conservation Areas. The methodology has been designed to facilitate cross-cultural learning, using the Potato Park as a model of a biocultural territory for agrobiodiversity conservation centered on the potato. The methodology will provide conceptual and practical tools for replication of the model in other biocultural contexts. The workshop aims to overcome the challenge of bringing together people from different geographical and biocultural regions by using a “Contact Learning Zone” framework, which allows geographically and historically separated peoples to come into contact and establish on-going relations, creating a horizontal and democratic space for intercultural practice.

The course will integrate both academic and field sessions, inquiring into topics such as: biocultural systems; the Indigenous Biocultural Territory model and agrobiodiversity conservation; customary laws and governance of agrobiodiversity conservation areas; repatriation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; agrobiodiversity and climate change; conservation of crop’s wild relatives; solidarity and creative economy; community-based agroecotourism; indigenous knowledge; access to genetic resources and intellectual property; local, national and international legal frameworks for agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainable use;  as well as the local implementation of the UNDRIP, CBD and the FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Through use of emancipatory and participatory methodologies, cooperative discovery will be facilitated by ANDES personnel and Potato Park community experts and authorities, and in addtion, presentations will be made by representatives of regional, national and international institutions such as the International Potato Centre, the Regional Government of Cusco, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Toursim, SPDA, and the FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources.

Assocation ANDES and the Association of Communities of the Potato Park are organizing this event with kind support and sponsorship from the Christensen Fund of the USA, the International Institue of Environment and Development (IIED) of the UK, and the International Potato Center.

For more information, please contact: Alejandro Argumedo   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  o, Tammy Stenner This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or the ANDES office at (51 84) 24 50 21.

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