PERMACULTURE

Permaculture was coined in the 1970s by Australian ecologist, Dr. Bill Mollison, as a contraction of permanent and agriculture, with an implication of permanence in culture. Permaculture has evolved as a design system for permanent agriculture and ecological human settlement. Permaculture is based on a system of ethics: care for the earth; care for people; return of surplus to the earth and people care system.

During the past twenty years, permaculture has grown into a global grassroots initiative, a blossoming folk movement that diversifies with new cultural adaptations. There are permaculture institutes, associations or projects in over 100 countries throughout the world. As we head toward the millennium, permaculture is fostering a global grass-roots design science revolution.

Permaculture ecological land use employs principles of natural systems in the design of beneficial associations to form living systems capable of regenerating and supporting themselves. These ecological design principles, strategies, and methods can be applied on urban, village and national scales and can be adapted to any ecosystem or biome.

Permaculture education consists of training in ecological land use planning and the development of sustainable life skills. Permaculture training provides the basis for the development of seed banks, nurseries and village forest gardens, which can insure food security, jobs, and regenerative enterprise at the local level. The innumerable value added products derived from permanent forest gardens are produced through the combination of cultural talent and social agro forestry.

Permaculture training empowers villagers to achieve local self reliance with home design for energy efficiency (like solar hot water tanks), water conservation (rooftop catchments cisterns); waste treatment (composting and wetlands); erosion control (earthworks) soil building; seed saving; home gardening; animal management; rangeland restoration; reforestation; forest gardening (multi-storied orchards); fuel forestry; nursery establishment and other practical skills needed for villages to be economically self-sufficient and ecologically sustainable.

Permaculture is the conscious design and the maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order

Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and stages components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms

The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature, of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; Of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and of Allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.