Text and pictures are combined to highlight action research with indigenous communities on sustaining local food systems, diverse ecologies, rights, livelihoods and culture to in the Peruvian Andes. Facilitated by ANDES (Quechua–Aymara Association for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development) and IIED, this participatory action research is actively developing an integrated model to protect traditional knowledge systems based on the conservation and sustainable use of the ecosystems in which indigenous peoples knowledge and innovations thrive. The model builds on the Andean concept of ‘working landscapes’ and integrates indigenous people’s own concepts of rights over their knowledge and resources. The approach is rooted in local institutions and management systems. Protecting the ‘working landscape’ or ‘cultural space’ where local knowledge and innovations are produced, managed and transmitted ensures that such an approach is in line with broader goals of securing indigenous land rights, sustaining the local economy and biodiversity, and maintaining the diversity of indigenous cultures and livelihoods |
