WikiPapa Platform and Citizen Science for Millennium Conservators

The WikiPapa platform (wikipapa.org/inicio) was created in 2021 with the aim of serving a global community. It enables the consolidation of an integrated system that involves farmers (guardians of native potatoes), consumers, high school students, teachers, and researchers. The WikiPapa environment connects people with the biodiversity of native potatoes through technological tools, combined with smartphones, opening up the world of science to students and youth, and fostering learning in the exploration, observation, and discovery of native potato biodiversity.

The goal of WikiPapa is to contribute to the in-situ conservation of the endemic biodiversity of native potato varieties from the Andes through citizen science. The WikiPapa environment is an interactive platform that allows the visualization of a collection of over 800 varieties from Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia. It showcases the distinctive traits of the varieties, including morphological characteristics such as flower color, skin and flesh color, tuber shape, tuber eye depth, and sprout color.