Permaculture is an approach to land management and philosophy that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems.

It includes a set of design principles derived using whole systems thinking and uses these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, rewilding, and community resilience. Permaculture originally came from “permanent agriculture”, but was later adjusted to mean “permanent culture”, incorporating social aspects as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka‘s natural farming. The term was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978, who formulated the concept in opposition to Western industrialized methods and in congruence with Indigenous or traditional knowledge.

Permaculture has many branches including ecological design, ecological engineering, regenerative design, environmental design, and construction. It also includes integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, and regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems. Permaculture has been implemented and gained widespread visibility throughout the world as an agricultural and architectural design system and as a guiding life principle or philosophy. Much of its success has been attributed to the role of Indigenous knowledge and traditions, in which the practice itself is rooted. In turn, the rise of permaculture has revalidated Indigenous knowledge in circles where it was previously devalued.

Links:
Permaculture Day