Permaculture or "permanent agriculture" is a holistic environmental design method for sustainable life systems and societies. Developed by Australian ecologist Dr. Bill Mollison, it combines techniques, strategies and concepts from several domains of sustainable agriculture, in addition to ecological energy, architecture, health, and water management solutions. Permanent agriculture is seen as the essential base for a sustainable environmental future. By caring for humans and nature through sympathetic solutions-based development and with the return of all surplus energies to the system providing the dynamic, we can hope to ensure the health and survival of sustainable ecological and human cultures. Permaculture aims to achieve this through co-operation with the environment, where a synthesis is sought between existing natural ecosystems and designed "cultivated ecologies" 1, ecosystems dedicated to human use. This combination provides a sound ecological base for future social and environmental security.

Positive or negative? A question of perspective

  Permaculture methods are similar to practising Aikido on the landscape, where adversity is accommodated and turned into positive assets, rather than to Karate the landscape to yield results through hard strikes. "Problem" landscapes only exist if our fixed attitudes cloud their positive attributes. Solutions can often be found by changing our perspective rather than changing the landscape, when enhanced may provide a unique and valuable environment. Basic permanent agricultural systems have been practised worldwide for many centuries, where constructed polycultures enabled urban settlements to be self-sufficient on highly intensive mixed crop-animal systems. Bill Mollison has elaborated and extended these systems, expanding the plant and animal base, incorporating organic farming techniques developed by Masanobu Fukuoka in Japan and irrigation, soil improvement and regional development strategies by P.A. Yeomans in Australia. This developed a "consciously designed agricultural system"1, which creates sustainable habitats for plants, animals and humans.

Co-operation and connections

  Co-operation is sought between system elements as opposed to competition where a particular species is allowed to dominate to the detriment and depletion of overall biological health. This emphasis on "working with rather than against nature" is based on "protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour", where "plants and animals are looked at in all their functions"2. This allows the creation of alliances or "guilds" whereby each component of the system fulfils at least two functions and is provided for by at least two other elements. This maximises food and resource security and mimics the stable conditions found in nature. Symbiosis, where different elements are mutually beneficial, and multi-functionality are actively sought. Trees, for example, are used to modify climate, fix nitrogen and retain water in the soil, provide shelter, food and wood, stabilise slopes, or act as firebreaks, and have a host of species-specific properties.

  Everything is a source of resources

  Permaculture design is based on a spatial zoning and sector analysis. By observing and reflecting on the landscape, whether urban or rural, we can determine the natural patterns of nature and use them appropriately by effective placement of system elements. The movement of sun, water and wind have different effects on the site, and we must anticipate dangers such as flood or fire. Topography, and therefore slope and orientation, determine the location of elements and species. Water resources focus on the "keypoint"3 where slope changes from convex to concave form. This is the principle location in designing any water system, which goes on to dictate the overall development of the project. Above this point, which can be extended to form the "keyline"3, forest strategies stabilise the soil and raise the water table. The keypoint is the ideal location for the highest dam and also for the homestead or residential complex. Below the keyline the land benefits from gravity-fed irrigation and soil improvement strategies and is ideally suited for crops and pasture. Slowing down the passage of water on the land, the use of rainfall run-off from fields, roofs and roads, storing water in the soil and in dams are just three strategies to increase efficiency. In an ideal small farm situation, land-use zones form concentric rings around the homestead, modified by sector constraints, and allocated according to frequency of visits and intensity of use.

Integrating and interlacing

  Permaculture is equally applicable in regional planning. Regions can be delineated by their natural drainage basins, neighbourhood, cultural or linguistic boundaries, or a combination of methods. The resultant bioregions are planned, as at the farm, around sustainable water use. Land use allocation is made with consideration to the natural landforms and regional needs. Each site plays a role within its bioregion, integrating and interweaving with other sites at the local and regional scale, sharing resources and exchanging produce, information, equipment, energy and ideas. Simultaneously it is important to have an interregional or international outlook with a "need not only to think globally and act locally, but to act and think globally and locally"4 The establishment of associations, co-operatives, credit unions, revolving loan funds and trusts is actively encouraged. The exchange of goods and services by barter and trade using local currencies such as the Local Exchange Trading System in the USA and elsewhere encourages community stability through self-sufficiency. In this way, capital, a form of energy, is generated and remains within the community or region, promoting sustainability much like the re-cycling of other energy forms. Only through seeking co-operation at all levels and by returning surplus energy in all its forms can we maximise efficiency, reduce our energy needs and encourage successful sustainable and healthy societies.

Towards a sustainable symbiosis

  Newly designed cultivated ecologies must be suitable for present and future environmental conditions and, in many cases, are allowed to dictate local biological growth in long-term projects and develop into complex climax ecologies, which have the stability, diversity and sustainability of natural ecosystems. Permaculture's philosophy focuses on the establishment of long-term and flexible solutions, with the emphasis on self-sufficiency and sustainability at all levels from the household through to the regional scale. Its great adaptability means that it can also be employed in emergency or short-term projects. Permaculture has a proven reputation in emergency humanitarian relief and refugee situations, where it is found to allow almost immediate food production capability in poor soil conditions. It is also an excellent tool in promoting self-reliance and cohesion within the dispossessed group, teaching techniques that can be utilised later if the group is resettled. Such projects relieve the stress on neighbouring host communities whilst encouraging bonds to develop through inter-group activities and exchange. Emergency situations illustrate extreme scenarios that are likely to become more common in the decades to come. The sooner we start to synthesise the natural and our own human environments into a symbiotic sustainable relationship, the sooner our inherited landscape will heal itself, the planet and eventually ourselves.

Michael A. Worham (mworham@yahoo.com)

1. MOLLISON, B., and Holmgren, D. 1978. Permaculture 1. A perennial agriculture for human settlements. Transworld (Corgi, Bantam). Melbourne.

2. FUKUOKA, M. 1978. The One Straw Revolution, an introduction to natural farming. Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA.

3. YEOMANS, P.A. 1993. Water for Every Farm, Keyline Designs, Southport, Queensland.

4. MOLLISON, B. 1988. Permaculture: designers manual. Tigari Publications. Australia.