We have the opportunity for Africa to awaken the full potential that we see in ourselves .....hope that for the first time is not based on foreign solutions and support, but is based on the wealth of local resources that Africa is endowed with.

EllieV said 2 years ago

"What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet. We don't know what details of a truly sustainable future are going to be like, but we need options, we need people experimenting in all kinds of ways and permaculturists are one of the critical gangs that are doing that."
a quote by Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist, broadcaster, host of the documentary series ‘The Nature of Things’, and international environmental advocate

EllieV said 2 years ago

Excerpts from TED talks - Michael Pollan: The omnivore’s next dilemma
"I took away from this (Permaculture farm) some of the most hopeful news about our relationship to nature that I have ever come across in 25 years that I have writing about nature. "

ipc9malawi said 2 years ago

A personal testimony from attending a previous IPC .... The IPC8 experience by Mugove Walter Nyika
The only IPC that I have attended was held in Brazil in May 2007. The conference brought together some 500 participants from 44 countries with less than a dozen of the participants coming from Africa. The theme of the conference was Greening the Economy. Never before have I had so many life changing moments within such a short period of time as with my attendance at the 8th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC8) in Brazil in May 2007. The special moments in my participation at IPC8 included:
Listening to the President of one of the major banks in Brazil explaining the commitment of his bank to financing sustainable programmes and projects - something which I can only dream about in my country
Celebrating in song and dance with like-minded people the light that people using Permaculture are throwing on our planet that is struggling under the burden of greed and blind destruction of the natural heritage
Sharing the cultural treasures of other people including their spirituality and connections with the natural world
Waking up in the middle of the Amazon river to savour the precious environment and natural wonder that was before us
Discovering that the history you have read and heard about the area has been mean with the truth and making the connections as the true stories of the area unfold. We have been told for many years that the rainforest biome in the area could not have supported large populations because of the delicate and fragile fertility of the soil but recent discoveries show that this is not true as previous communities here had developed very fertile soils that could support large populations
Seeing thousands of hectares of former rain forest land cleared and taken over by cattle due to the lure of the dollar of the fast food industry
Seeing the results of the ridiculous policies to “develop” and “industrialize” the Amazon and hearing first hand the stories of the negative impact of the ‘development’ of the Amazon. Seeing the mega cities failing to work.
Taking in the aerial views of the shrinking Amazon forest under attack from the soya bean farmers and other commercial interests

All in all IPC8 was a massive learning and emotional experience and above all it was an energising experience for me. Had it not been for the enriching experience of IPC8 I would not have had the energy to organise an IPC.