The Parque de la Papa is a Biocultural Territory dedicated to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity in the Andes mountains near Pisaq, Cusco, Peru, at 45 minutes by car.
It is managed by the five indigenous communities of Amaru, Chawaytire, Pampallacta, Paru Paru and Sacaca, with the support of the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development, ANDES.
Visitors are invited to experience Parque de la Papa through its biocultural tourism program. The visits can be organized around five main themes: agroecology, the Culinary Sanctuary, trekking, crafts and natural products.
Horizontal learning programs can also be organized for various participant groups on topics such as biocultural heritage territories, food security, traditional knowledge and resilience to climate change. Programs are flexible and can be tailored to the specific interests of visitors.
The site has an area of 7,238 hectares and groups 4 peasant communities from the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Cusco.
In Prque de la Papa there are 1,330 potato varieties conserved in the field and in the communal germplasm bank. Almost all are native varieties of the tuber. Experiential tourism is also practiced there, which allows preserving a current ancestral culture, evidenced in the communal structure known as «ayllu» (community).
The recognition will allow the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) to strengthen strategies that consolidate the conservation, sustainable use and local management of native agricultural diversity. INIA has been working in the park for several years with the aim of preserving for posterity the product that once saved humanity from famine.
It must be specified that agrobiodiversity zones are geographical spaces by virtue of their native, cultural and ecological wealth, and in which indigenous peoples -through their cultural traditions- manage and conserve the genetic resources of their fields and ecosystems.