Consultations and field visits helped identify the host organisation for the IIED research in Peru: ANDES (Associacion Quechua-Aymara para la Conservation de la Naturaleza y el Desarrollo Sostenible). ANDES has a decentralised structure with a small secretariat of 3 professional staff in Cusco, Southern Peru, and other staff in the field, working with local communities. A total of 18 staff members include university trained professionnals and local villagers with expertise and knowledge in specific areas. ANDES is governed by a general assembly which is largely composed of indigenous peoples drawn from villages in the Andean mountains.

The National Learning Group that will guide the IIED work in Peru and ultimately use the research findings & outcomes to influence policy and organisations has also been consitututed.

Four interrelated priority areas of work have been identified through participatory dialogues

1. Adaptive Management of Living Bio-Cultural Spaces - Establishment of a Potato Park
   
   A Potato Park is being established and a management system developed that is inclusive of both biological and cultural diversity, using local indicators of well being, local valuations of the landscape, building on local institutions (including markets) and while strengthening localised food systems. There are plans to extend and link this “pilot park” to neighbouring areas, using culturally appropriate protected area categories e.g. UNESCO’s cultural landscape, IUCN’s category V Protected Areas and/or co-management agreements with private landowners.
   
2. Local biodiversity registers and Traditional Resources Rights
   
   Through participatory assessments of the values of biodiversity important for food and agriculture, locally based community biodiversity registers will be established documenting indigenous knowledge and innovations. The plan is to link these community biodiversity registers with evolving national norms to protect the rights of indigenous communities and national sovereignty over genetic resources.
   
   A technical and cultural exchange between Indian and Peruvian farmers also took place in April 2002, to share knowledge on community biodiversity registers and video documentation.[see section on India for full description of the purposes of the workshop]. An evaluation report may be viewed in PDF format [788k]
   
3. Deliberative democracy, GMOs and food futures
   
   Citizen juries/scenario workshops on the pros and cons of introducing transgenic potatoes in the Andean centre of origin of the potato will be facilitated. The design of this participatory process would seek to link citizen based technological assessments with the choice of food futures and the types of agricultural landscapes preferred by indigenous communities. An independent panel of observers would be appointed to oversee the whole process and ensure that it is trustworthy and unbiased.
   
4. Policy analysis- sui generis law for native crop diversity and impact of market dynamics on agri-biodiversity
   
   The priority focus here of the policy analysis component of the work in Peru is on:
   
   a) the development of sui generis laws to protect Andean native crops and associated indigenous knowledge
   
   b) define the domain and scope of application of the CBD’s Biosafety Protocol, in conjunction with planned citizen juries/scenario workshops on food futures and introduction of transgenics
   
   c) analysis of agricultural policies and impacts of changing market dynamics on agricultural biodiversity, livelihoods and local food systems.

The National Learning Group consists of representatives from:

• INIA, Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agricola
  
  
• CONAM, Commission Nacional de Medio Ambiente
  
  
• CIP, Centro Internacional de la Papa
  
  
• CRIBA, Centro Regional de Investigacion en Biodiversidad Andina
  
  
• SPDA, Sociedad Peruvian de Derecho Ambiental
  
  
• CCP, Confederacion de Campesinos de Peru
  
  
• INDECOPI, Instituto Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia y de la Proteccion de la Propiedad Intellectual
  
  
• AIDSP, Assocacion Interetnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana
  
  
• CHIRIPAQ, Grupo de Mujeres Indigenas Kechuas
  
  
• Representatives of local indigenous communities