65 Alejandro Argumedo
Photo: Khanh Tran-Thanh
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The women's collective that manages and operates the small restaurant provide cooking demonstrations and
meals to showcase traditional local ingredients such as quinoa and amaranth.
Phase 3: Final consultation and validation of
the inter-community agreement
The final stage was carried out by indigenous researchers and ANDES staff with the
goal of finalising and signing the BCP.
Community participation was expanded
further through consultations and meetings with a wide range of actors from the
study groups, micro-enterprises, community leaders, shamans, women's groups,
elders, youth groups and the Board of
Directors of the Association of Communities of the Potato Park. Indigenous
facilitators led discussions focused on
objectives, benefits and beneficiaries, rights
and responsibilities and forms of benefitsharing within the BCP. Knowledge gaps
were identified and addressed to improve
the final BCP drafts which were then
reviewed by a group of experts, including a
lawyer who specialises in customary law.
Study groups continued the process of
simplifying the agreement for ease of
understanding and reconceptualising the
content in Quechua terms. Incorporating
the results from the study groups and
consultations, another version of the agreement was produced and a validation
process began. Following traditional decision-making procedures, the BCP was
presented and discussed in community
assemblies, and then put to a vote. All
communities involved approved the agreement by a large majority.
The inter-community biocultural protocol
for benefit-sharing
The inter-community biocultural protocol
now exists as a broad outline for benefitsharing that includes all benefits received
by the Potato Park that are directly or indirectly derived from its biocultural
resources. The BCP shares the benefits
amongst the 6000 people of the five
communities. A communal fund has been
set up for the funds generated from such
activities including:
• third-party use of biological resources,
seeds and traditional knowledge of the
Potato Park;