Permaculture has a track record of having being used many times in development work, environmental restoration, and post-disaster relief in the 40+ years of its existence.
Outlined below are some cases, in recent times, that have seen permaculture at the forefront of all this.
Green Releaf, Philippines
“What if we changed the narrative of Disaster Risk Reduction or DRR, into that of Design for Resilience and Regeneration?”
This is what inspires the design of Green Releaf Initiative. When Sarah Queblatin was helping pack relief goods full of plastics and processed food. Looking at the massive pile of carbon packed to respond to the floods and mass displacement caused by Typhoon Ketsana, she wondered, “how might we address problems without the same factors that caused the problem in the first place?”
This inquiry led to circular design called ‘Green Releaf’ which eventually paved the way to studying permaculture and ecovillage design education years later. Green Releaf Initiative in the Philippines supports recovering communities, especially displaced people from typhoons, teaching people how to become more resilient against future disasters. Read more…
IDEP Foundation, Indonesia
The IDEP Foundation from Indonesia and its partners have successfully assisted with emergency relief for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2002 & 2005 Bali Bombings, the 2005 flooding in NTB / Lombok, the 2006 Earthquake in Central Java, the 2006 Earthquake and Tsunami in Pangandaran, the 2007 Flash Floods in Aceh & North Sumatra, the 2009 Earthquake in West Sumatra, the 2010 Tsunami in the Mentawai Islands, and the 2010 Volcanic Eruptions in Mount Merapi. Read more…
Responding to the Haiti earthquake, 2009
When the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2009, Cory Brennan from The Permaculture Guild was teaching a permaculture course in Little Haiti, Miami, Florida. After assessing what was most needed, she assisted six permaculturists and sustainability experts to get to Port Au Prince shortly after the earthquake. This is their story. Read more…
Permaculture training with refugees communities, South Sudan & Uganda
The Welsh Permaculture NGO Sector39, has been working in South Sudan and Uganda in refugee communities. In partnership with Norwegian Refugee Agency Sector39 has led on a 6 month training program for refugees and host community members. Many of the trainees are not experienced farmers or gardeners, more typically cattle herders and grazers.
Based in the Western Nile area they have been given a plot of land and challenged to supplement their basic food aid with what they can grow in kitchen gardens, using organic and permaculture approaches. Read more …
Permatil, East Timor
Ego was introduced to permaculture soon after the country obtained its independence in 1999 by Australian permaculturalist, Steve Cran, who became a close friend and mentor. Since then Ego has tried a number of methods to reach communities and encourage them to take up permaculture practices.
Traveling widely in the country, Ego directly teaching techniques to subsistence farmers, establishing school permaculture gardens and running youth permaculture camps. He believes that working with schools is the most effective strategy to impact practices in the broader community and increase production of home gardens. Read more…
Himalayan Permaculture Center (HPC), Nepal
The Himalayan Permaculture Centre (HPC) is a grass roots non-government organisation (NGO) set up by trained and motivated farmers from Surkhet district (Mid-Western Nepal) in 2010 to implement sustainable rural development programs in Nepal.
On April 25th 2015 Nepal was struck by a massive earthquake, deeply affecting the country and its people. There were a series of earthquakes over several days; the most devastating of which reached 7.8 on the Richter scale. Members of HPC joined with others to discuss strategies and action plans for implementation of post-earthquake recovery that supports low-cost, earthquake-compliant homes while simultaneously addressing other key drivers of poverty and environmental vulnerability in communities. Read more…