Events
France................
European ..............International
A
meeting of French speaking permaculture designers
and activists is organised for
the 21 juin at 17h
La Courdémière (Champagné-St-Hilaire,
86).
The French Permaculture Association
organises regular help out events and these are coupled
with a meeting to discuss the development of permaculture
in France. This event will be at Pascals project as
above
Saturday
17h: Meeting, teabreak, site visit.
18h (or thereabouts): Discussion to organise next
days meeting.
19-20h: Meal and music (in France its national music
festival)
Dimanche:
Discussions around the organisation of Permaculture
in France, l'Université, Les Compagnons, the
association etc etc.
25km au sud de Poitiers, à Gencay,
prenez la direction de Couhé (D2). Puis tournez
à la dernière à gauche dans Ferraboeuf
(petit hameau après 5km) à côté
de l'abris bus en bois. Faites Deux trois kilomètres
et vous aurez deux routes sur votre gauche, la première
sera La Ferraudière et la seconde La Courdémière,
les panneaux sont indiqués dans l'autre sens
de la route ;), ne roulez donc pas trop vite ;)
Si vous arrivez à Poitiers en train, vous pouvez
pousser jusqu'à Vivonne, je peux venir vous
y chercher.
Si vous venez en stop, appelez moi si vous êtes
à Champagné-st-hilaire ou a gencay.
Mon numéro est le 0689068181
(I speak english)
Pascal
Back
..
9th International Permaculture
Conference
According
to the IPC8 official report, each IPC consists of
four separate events: a permaculture conference open
to the general public; a convergence for practising
permaculturalists; a design course and a site tour.
The three IPC9 hosting countries will divide up these
events amongst themselves, with each of them expected
to do their own fund-raising for most of the events
to be held in their respective territories.
The
proposed theme for IPC 9 is "Designing solutions
for a sustainable future". Subthemes are: "Permaculture
as a Regional Planning Tool for Sustainable Livelihoods
and Earth Care, Food Security and Sovereignty through
Organic Production and Marketing, Education, Green
Economics and Lifestyles, Health and Nutrition, HIV/AIDS,
Housing and Sustainable Cities, and Disaster Management."
The IPC 9 events will be held in July of 2009, but
dates have not yet been announced. Malawi will host
the 9th International Permaculture Convergence, South
Africa will host the 9th International Permaculture
Conference to be held in Johannesburg, and Zimbabwe
will host the 9th International Permaculture Design
Course to be held at the Fambidzanai Permaculture
Centre in Harare.
THE
9TH INTERNATIONAL PERMACULTURE CONFERENCE & CONVERGENCE
(IPC9)
1.
Global Context:
Humanity's
future is at risk unless urgent action is taken. Over
the past 20 years, almost every index of the planet's
health has worsened, whilst personal wealth in the
richest countries has grown by a third, with unprecedented
economic gains for developed nations, which, for many
people, have masked the growing crisis.
In the last 2 decades the financial wealth of the
planet has soared by around a third. Yet, at the same
time much of the 'natural' capital upon which so much
of human well-being and economic activity depends
water, land, the air and atmosphere, biodiversity
and marine resources have continued their seemingly
inexorable decline.
The systematic destruction of the Earth's natural
and nature-based resources has reached a point where
the economic viability of economies is being challenged
and the bill we hand on to our children may prove
impossible to pay. Permaculture design and planning
offers an accelerated effort to reform the way we
collectively do business on planet Earth,
UNEP's Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4) October
2007
2. Background
The
9th International Permaculture Conference (IPC) will
be hosted in Africa, with the conference planned to
take place in South Africa and the Convergence in
Malawi in July 2009. The conference has been hosted
every two years since 1996. Past host sites have been
Australia, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Nepal, Croatia
and Brazil.
IPC 9 comes at a critical time for Africa’s
development where existing paradigms are being challenged
and there is an ever increasing demand on the planet’s
resources. Permaculture provides a practical and common
sense approach to identifying and maximizing our available
natural and social capital, to empower an African
renaissance.
Permaculture (PC) is an holistic land design science
that is being used as a tool for promoting sustainable
living by a growing number of people worldwide. The
global PC community organises a biennial conference
and convergence to share experiences, network and
fast track development solutions. The International
Permaculture Conference (IPCa) is the public interface
of this gathering while the International Permaculture
Convergence (IPCb) is a closed meeting for the PC
enthusiasts.
The
African continent has never before hosted these international
events despite the impressive work that has been done
since Bill Mollison, the founder of PC, trained a
group of Africans in Botswana in 1987 and later in
South Africa in 1991. Attempts for Africa to host
the conference in the 1990’s did not succeed
and therefore there are high expectations for the
9th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence
(IPC 9) to be hosted for the first time by Africa
in 2009.
The
decision to grant Africa the right to host IPC 9 was
deliberated and decided at IPC 8 in Brazil in 2007
and Africa was the popular choice. A large international
committee formed to assist Africans to prepare for
IPC 9.
The
conference will provide International, African and
Regional speakers focusing on providing practical
tools and steps for evolving the existing status quo
where 80 percent of the worlds population live in
poverty to a people centred development approach focused
on restoring the earth, creating productive eco-systems
that generate wealth and create self sufficient regional
economies.
3.
Aims:
·
To host a conference for International, African and
Regional business, government and civil society leaders
to promote Permaculture as a tool for regional development
planning.
· To mainstream Permaculture principles in
broader society, to encourage, dialogue, policy development
and informed/sustainable social investment.
· To host an EXPO open to all to showcase projects,
models of best practice, appropriate and alternative
technologies, and
· To showcase development people centred development
strategies, regional demonstrations of low cost holistic
approaches to economic development, incorporating
indigenous cultural knowledge, integrating ideas and
practice relating to land use, shelter, energy conservation
and use, diet and health, waste management, recycling
and the implementation of co-operative principles
4. Rationale:
Africa
has been a recipient of economic, political and cultural
domination by foreign entities for centuries. These
external forces have served to weaken the capacity
of African communities to be self reliant, confident
and to define their own paths to development, as well
as in some instances leading to alienation from the
land. In spite of this sustained foreign onslaught
and exploitation, Africa remains rich in cultural
and biological diversity.
Permaculture
opens new horizons for African communities to use
their inherent natural and social wealth for sustainable
development. Africans who have been exposed to Permaculture
are confident that the situation of hopelessness that
has so far characterised the African story can be
turned around to one of hope, self determination,
sustainable and regional economic development, as
well as to reclaim our connection to this continent
which is indeed the birth place of our species.
The
same scenario could be said of the other parts of
the developing world and as members of the only ecosystem
that we have, IPC 9 will be a good opportunity for
the international community to come together and strategise
for a sustainable future for humans on the planet.
5.
Theme
Designing solutions for a sustainable future :
At
the close of the 8th International Permaculture Convergence
in Pirenoplolis, Brazil. a participant remarked that
‘…in the west, Permaculture is a hobby
while in Brazil and the rest of Latin America, Permaculture
is political…’ In Africa, Permaculture
is about sustaining life and livelihoods. Permaculture
addresses needs not wants. It is about finding solutions
to everyday problems. For many it is about being able
to put food on the table and provide for the needs
of the family and move out of a vicious cycle of poverty
and malnutrition. It is often a question of survival
in a world that is determined to make Africans follow
a development path that is based on foreign value
systems, irrelevant processes and external high energy
dependent inputs.
The
Permaculture movement itself is faced with the challenge
of gearing up its scope and scale of operations to
regional levels, where areas are planned by watersheds,
and economies of scale utilised to maximise available
natural and human resources in a structured well planned
approach to creating healthy balanced communities.
Read
Complete IPC9 Concept Note and other documents on
website www.ipcon.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=133
Sustainable World Radio: Friday mornings at 9:00 am
PST on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa Barbara, California and
streaming live on www.kcsb.org. . Also posted later
on ipc9.org , Also found on www.sustainableworldradio.com,
or www.radio4all.net
later in the week
..Back
9th European Permaculture
Convergence
Dates: 18-23 June 2008
Location: Hostetin Village, Czech Republic
More Information: See www.permakultura.sk,
Convergence
flyer (pdf), Hostetin
information (pdf) and Booking
Form (rtf) or email eupc@permakultura.cz.
Programme:
Keynote Topics
• Self-reliant Permaculture Economy –
More than Profit Businesses
• Transition Towns – a response to
climate change and ?peak oil'
• 10,000 Trees Project – a permaculture
strategy in the face of global warming
• Urban Permaculture – the Culemborg
experience
Excursions
There will be daily visits to projects in and
aroundHostetin and opportunities for practical
activities.
Working Groups
There will several working groups meeting during
the convergence:
• The diploma process in Europe
• The future of european permaculture
• Permaculture Teachers’ meeting
• Grundtvig programme – possibilties
for internationalco-operation
You are invited to bring
• Suggestions for other workshops
• Presentations of your projects
• Displays for the gallery – even
if you cannot join us you could send a presentation
• Topics for Open Space sessions
• Music, songs and stories to share with
others around the fire in the evenings