A region of Peru that is a center of potato diversity has banned genetically modified varieties of the tuber. The Cusco regional government's Order 010 - approved by majority vote on June 21 and made public today - is intended to protect the genetic diversity of thousands of native potato varieties.

The order forbids the sale, cultivation, use and transport of genetically modified potatoes as well as other native food crops. Potatoes have been cultivated in the Cusco region for thousands of years and helped to feed the ancient Inca empire.

The regional capital Cusco is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Americas. Along with nearby Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas just named one of the new seven wonders of the world, Cusco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The potato originated in the highlands of South America. Peru and its Andean neighbor countries are the crop's center of diversity - with more than 4,000 distinct varieties that farmers have developed over generations.

Today, more than 1.2 million people live in the Cusco region. Many are small-scale farmers for whom the potato is their most important crop.

Local farmers' organizations fear that genes from genetically modified, GM, potatoes could transfer into local varieties and alter their unique properties.

The head of the regional government's environmental office, Abel Caballero, proposed the ban "in recognition of the historical, cultural, social and economic importance of the potato and other native crops to the Cusco Region."

Order 010 was passed in response to proposals submitted by a network of local potato farming communities and Asociacion ANDES, an indigenous nongovernmental organization based in Cusco.

They collaborated on the proposals with the International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED, an independent, non-profit research institute based in London "This is unprecedented for Peru and a great victory for the communities of Cusco," says Alejandro Argumedo, director of Asociacion ANDES.