What is Permaculture?

(refer to Permaculture Research Institute Kenya for another nice additional explanation)

I meet many people that have not heard about permaculture, so many times I find myself trying to explain it in a short, brief, and easy way, adjusting the amount of content I give to my explanation to the level of understanding I feel a person has. In the end this is the core I would try to get across:

“Permaculture is a design system to create sustainable human habitats. With permaculture we look at what is there, dream of how it could be, carefully observe nature and then implement processes that can sustain themselves, while yielding everything needed from the elements of a system to survive, including us humans.”

The word Permaculture was coined in Australia in the 1970s, but the techniques used are as ancient as human wisdom, while also including newest sustainable technologies like solar and wind power.

Above all that, I essentially understand Permaculture as a lifestyle that thrives to offer a good life without depriving other humans or the environment of their fair share of resources. We see that Permaculture thinking consists of three basics that are the fundamental ethics of permaculture:

Earth Care – People Care – Fair Share

On top of this ethic foundation are a number of design principles. In his “Essence of Permaculture” (free download here) David Holmgren states 12 design principles (e.g.: observe and interact, obtain a yield, apply self-regulation, produce no waste, …).

The easiest and most obvious way to implement Permaculture is on your property (garden and house). But Permaculture looks at all aspects of life and searches for holistic solutions for us holistic beings. This holistic view includes different approaches and techniques that the Permaculture Design Flower reflects:

You can do courses in Permaculture, become a certified teacher and be part of the worldwide network of Permaculture practitioners, that exists on every continent and in many countries.

Find many Permaculture groups for African countries on Facebook:

Permaculture Africa
Permaculture Southern Africa
Permaculture Kenya
Permaculture Malawi
Permaculture Botswana
Permaculture South Africa