[:en]Permaculture 101, getting familiar with resilient systems.
Permaculture:
- Permaculture is a system of ecological design that teaches how to create systems that can meet human needs while regenerating the environment around us.
- Integrates multiple aspects of green technologies.
- Applies systems thinking to earth care and people care.
- Is a constructive answer to todays challenges such as resource scarcity, species extinction, climate change and land degradation.
- The principles can be used in other fields such as energy efficient housing and community building.
- It is based on fundementals of Earth Care; People Care; Fair Share and the redistribution of any surplus to these 3.
- Permaculture is based on Preserving; Enhancing and Introducing these 12 main Principles tools:
- Observe and interact
- Catch and store energy
- Obtain a yield
- Apply self regulation and accept feedback
- Use and value reusable resources
- Produce no waste
- Design patterns
- Integrate never segregate
- Use small and slow solutions
- Use and value diversity
- Use edges and value the marginal
- Creatively respond to change
Sustainable agriculture:
Sustainable agriculture can be defined as:
“A whole-systems approach to food, feed, and fibre production that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes,
biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. It combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit
the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved. Inherent in this definition is the idea that sustainability must be
extended not only globally but indefinitely in time and to all living organisms including humans.”
– Adapted from the Ecological Definition of Sustainable Agriculture by Professor Stephen R. Gliessman and the definition of organic agriculture.
Cited by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)
ActionAid considers sustainable agriculture as an approach derived from the recognition of people’s right to food.
It is a way of life based on self-reliant and agro-ecological systems which encompass all forms of livelihoods for smallholder farmers, farm workers, landless people, pastoralists, livestock farmers, fisherfolk, and hunter-gatherers.
Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture:
Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture is an initiative that ActionAid has been developing, based on the concept and practices of sustainable agriculture.
It represents an effort to incorporate in our work the new challenges posed by climate change and its impacts on poor people’s lives. It is based on the identification of the major risks and challenges local communities face, and/or are likely to face in the near future, and on the design and implementation of site.
Resource: http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/exhibition_document_-_final_draft.pdf