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8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees full moon funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money moon phases Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Topics

8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees full moon funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money moon phases Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Celebrating Activists Voices: permaculture prize for projects transforming lives and landscapes (2020)

The Permaculture Magazine Prize, launched in 2018, celebrates activists and permaculture practitioners around the world who are transforming communities and landscapes with climate change solutions and regenerative agriculture.

Permaculture Magazine are pleased to announce the winners and runners up of the 2020 Permaculture Magazine Prize.

Now in its third year, the Permaculture Magazine Prize and Youth in Permaculture Prize are sharing a magnificent £25,000 between eight worldwide projects, which are regenerating landscapes and communities with natural farming techniques, permaculture methods and collaboration.

The Main Winner of £5,000

Guatemala’s Contour Lines Corp for its work in educating local farmers in regenerative farming methods, moving them away from highly destructive slash and burn agriculture to thriving local landscapes. Over 35 Q’echi villages were reliant on this method, but Contour Lines provided fruit trees, equipment and training to help transition communities towards resilient income streams.

These farmers now grow diverse food forests with a wide range of crops to ensure greater food security, income and nutrition – whilst also creating wildlife habitat. The perennial tree systems are more resistant to droughts, strong winds and disease (which are becoming more frequent), enhancing the communities’ climate resilience.

Sean Dixon-Sullivan and team heading up river to visit a potential new site ©Sean Dixon-Sullivan

The four runners, who each receive £2,500, are:

EcoHub (Sporos Regeneration Institute), a therapeutic, educational and integration-focused permaculture project in Lesvos, Greece. This project emerged from a need to heal trauma for locals and the fleeing Syrian refugees that arrived in 2015, with over a million to date. The EcoHub centre creates symbiotic relationships between locals and refugees, educates in regenerative growing practices and land stewardship. Locals and refugees learn how they can work together while creating healthy food systems for all. http://sporosinstitute.org

EcoHub4.jpg
©Olga Saliampoukou/Photolgaphy

Kilombo Tenodé, in the Atlantic Rainforest on the Eastern coastline of Valença in Brazil, brings permaculture and Afro-Brazilian perspectives together (named Permangola), educating locals and global visitors in community resilience, permaculture food growing techniques and the Afro-Brazilian art form of Capoeira Angola, originating from the descendants of African self-sustaining communities who hid in the jungle, opposing slavery and the colonial system. The onsite syntropic rainforest is an educational tool for visitors and local farmers, teaching the importance of crop diversity, rainwater harvesting techniques, waste management methods such as the banana circle, how to grow medicinal plants for consumption and profit and much more. www.kilombotenonde.net

©Kilombo Ténode

Friends of the Environment in Northern Sierra Leone is working with the local community, especially children, to integrate the knowledge and need for sustainable farming methods. Until recently slash and burn was common place, drastically deforesting native forest. Five school-based clubs teach children about conservation and how to protect their environment, including permaculture ethics, how to regenerate forests, and food growing. This information is disseminated through families and the wider community, creating a culture that wants to protect the local landscape and work with it to create more resilient futures. An agroforestry nursery will help reforest the local area and classes in propagation, agroforestry and edible crops allow farmers to create their own sustainable incomes. www.facebook.com/Friends-of-the-Environment-11489275036846

©Abu Gbori

Swayyam is in the southwest of India, on the borders of Karnataka and Bandipur Tiger Reserve, which is part of the largest protected area in southern India, supporting one of the biggest tiger populations in the world. It is home to over 200 villages around the periphery of the forest and climate change induced erratic weather has moved the traditional farming and cattle herding livelihoods towards dangerous ventures into the reserve, bringing with it wildlife conflict and risk of life. The number of farmers, cowherds and shepherds attacked by tigers, leopards, elephants and wild boars is constantly on the rise. Swayyam is a demonstration centre for local farmers, transforming a degraded and eroded landscape into a buzzing food and medicinal forest – an example of what can be done in the area. Their 1000 Tree Project is a rural initiative to increase forest cover, restore biodiversity and ensure food, fodder and livelihood security through regenerative practices. https://swayyam.org

©Deepthi Indukuri

Youth in Permaculture Prize

The Youth in Permaculture Prize is organised by Permaculture Magazine in partnership with Abundant Earth Foundation. The Prize of £10,000 is shared between three winners, with one Grand Prize winner of £5,000 and two runners up, each receiving £2,500.

The Grand Prize winner is Yar Dau Deng and the Vijana Twaweza Club (VTC). Set up by refugee youths, they work to combat extreme poverty and environmental degradation in Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Settlement in Kenya. Sustainability and permaculture are at the core of everything VTC do, whether it is teaching sustainable growing techniques, enabling and empowering young girls to receive an education or creating examples of indigenous food ecosystem restoration. VTC are transforming landscapes, lives and people’s futures through education and nutritious food, creating sustainable livelihoods and communities in an incredibly tough landscape. www.facebook.com/VijanaTwawezaClub

©Vijana Twaweza Club

Runners up:

  • Ola Tom Lakere works with Refarmers and the Grandmother’s Kitchen Garden project in Uganda. The nutritious kitchen gardens bring food and sustainable livelihoods to the most vulnerable – the elderly, child mothers and child-headed families. The project has reached a wide audience through local media, and Ola is putting himself through a permaculture course to better understand food growing and nutrition. He is turning his home into a mini learning centre to pass on his permaculture knowledge to other young people, hoping these important tools will ripple into the wider community. https://refarmers.org/grandmothers-kitchen-garden-project
  • Permayouth is a global initiative led by and for people around 11-16 years of age. It connects young people who are curious about positive solutions and passionate about the future of our planet. The monthly global festivals bring young people together from around the world, including Permayouth teams in refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda. The weekly Permayouth meet-ups online teach about permaculture, from gardening and natural dyes, to zero waste, ethics, and designing. These young people are stepping up to the challenge of climate change and learning how to use permaculture as the solutions to a better world. www.permayouth.org

Further Resources