Permaculture teaches through its ethics, a set of 12 principles and a way of designing that accounts for all GEN’s 4 Areas of Regeneration (Social, Cultural, Ecological, and Economic) and the central path of integral design, providing a roadmap of crucial areas of attention when implementing ecovillage lifestyles for positive transformation.  

Permaculture is yet another tool for applying the 32 ecovillage principles into daily life and is thus an integral part of ecovillage education.

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Ecovila Piracanga is located in Brazil, and it is part of the CASA Region of the Global Ecovillage Network.

The development of the ecovillage was driven mainly from 2011 onwards and in less than one decade the once degraded site where the Piracanga is located was recovered and transformed into a diverse forest with more than 40 species of fruit trees. Beyond the ecovillage area, there is also a permanent preservation area of 90 hectares, with a huge variety of wild plants and animals.

This accomplishment can remind us of the Principle 8, developed by David Holmgren, co-author of Permaculture, that states, “integrate rather than segregate”. By walking on the trails of Piracanga or looking at an aerial photo we can feel and see the harmony of the houses among the biodiversity of flora. This integration brings a win-win situation for the succession of the forest and the reintegration of fauna and humans into their natural habitat.

The Ecological dimension of our Map of Regeneration is displayed in Piracanga through all its’ principles, such as “Increase biodiversity and restore ecosystems”.

A wide range of Permaculture techniques were applied in Piracanga over the years and today all the Ecovillage utilizes off-grip solar power, environmental sanitation, and composting of 100% of organic waste, among other implementations.

Piracanga is a place of exuberant natural beauty, where about 180 people currently live, with approximately 40 children, and receives a few thousand visitors every year. For this matter, the Ecovillage is a living and very diverse laboratory of social, environmental, educational, artistic, economic, and spiritual technologies capable of inspiring and serving as an example for the Planet.

The history of Ghana Permaculture Institute (GPI) began in early 2004, having a Permaculture Design Course as a starting point to set up the non-profit Ghana Permaculture Network since then renamed to Ghana Permaculture Institute.

Today, the Institute is part of GEN Africa and promotes Permaculture Systems and Social Enterprises to overcome social and environmental degradation. They work looking beyond the challenges to train people in local communities on strategies for earth restoration, food security systems, and economic stability.

The multiple projects they present are inspiring examples based on Permaculture Design, Ethics and Principles of earth care, people care, and fair share.

Since 2004 the Institute has set up 50 community tree nurseries and offers advice and training to local farmers. Currently, they are networking with over 8,000 farmers, introducing Permaculture to schools, and donating trees.

The Institute also ensures that the members and communities sustain their cultural practices, fomenting the indigenous system of farming, and the local fabric enterprise that promotes Ghanaian culture such as batik tie dye.

Sunseed Desert Technology is an investigation and non-formal education project located in Andalucía, Spain, and is a part of GEN Europe.

Sunseed was first conceived in 1982 with the aim of finding and spreading new ways to help people living in poverty in desertified lands, under the name Green Deserts. Today, with more than 35 years of learning and experimenting, their aim is to inspire and involve people from around the world to join the movement towards a culture of people and planet care.

Their vision is to live a healthy and ecologically responsible life working in harmony with nature off-grid. For that purpose, they put effort into closing the eco-cycles using solar energy, growing food, protecting the soil from erosion, having a vegetarian diet, using low-tech dispositive, and applying reduce-reuse-recycle principles.

The project has a department of Appropriate Technology that promotes innovation in the use of available technologies to reduce the impact on the environment. Their goal is to maintain the solar and water systems, whilst focusing on innovating and researching biogas, solar energy, and bicycle-powered machines.

Earthaven Ecovillage was founded 1994 on 329 acres in the mountain forests of Western North Carolina, being part of GENNA, the North American Region of the Global Ecovillage Network.

The Earthaven Ecovillage has a mission to be a living laboratory and educational seed bank for a sustainable human future. The community is spiritually diverse and values sustainable ecological systems, permaculture design, elegant simplicity, right livelihood, and healthy social relations.

Acting towards this vision, they have created a permaculture-based site plan for developing the mountain forest property. The design identified sacred sites; land to remain forested, areas for gardening, farming, and orchards; locations for roads, paths, and common community buildings; and locations for residential neighborhoods.

The Community works to preserve the water quality and bring awareness of how not to contaminate the streams. This care is made visible through the conscious use and design of the available water flow through dug ponds at strategic locations, and through a series of swales directing the water. Members are also required to catch water off of roofs and store it for irrigation in tanks, ponds, or the ground using swales.

The Proyecto Yum Kaax, located in Mexico and part of CASA Region, was born in January 2021 as a non-profit auto-organisation, co-managed by a community sensitive to the ecological, social, and alimentary challenges of society.

The project is named after a Mayan guardian “YUM KAAX”, and represents the spirit of the community, as “protectors of nature and her inhabitants”. It also highlights the importance of cultural values, from the preservation of Maya Heritage to the enhancement of multicultural exchanges, that happens through workshops, traditional ceremonies, among others.

The project promotes social and environmental connection for the harmony of the current and future generations, through the holistic development of an ecovillage & community space, including permaculture, eco-construction, food sovereignty, holistic well-being, low-tech, and zero waste.

They believe that Permaculture philosophy and management is the best way to develop as close as possible to real sustainability. A beautiful manifestation of the benefits of those practices experienced by the community is the enhancement of the natural resources of the site, which used to be a plantation of coffee monoculture.

Schweibenalp is a community in Switzerland, part of the Global Ecovillage Network, and a member of GEN Europe. The Center contributes to the development of a holistic lifestyle and universal spirituality since 1982, exploring and finding sustainable ways of living together and acting in the areas of community, spirituality, economy, and ecology as possible models for a new world.

The community values respect for natural cycles, a fair economy, and mindfully living together. This atmosphere encourages the members’ personal development, as an active contribution to strengthening the field of consciousness of love, in which every human being can unfold their true potential.

Since 2011, Alpine Permaculture Schweibenalp was created as a part of the Center that explore what future agriculture might look like while contributing to a sustainable coexistence of human beings, plants, and animals, producing a wide range of herbal products, veggies, fruits, mushrooms, berries, and seeds, within its 20-hectare area.

Those products, results of the care for the Earth, contribute to the food supply for the community and seminar house kitchen, also cooperating with local farmers, cooperatives, hotels, and traders to market their products.

Schweibenalp also has a permaculture education Center that shares knowledge with an extensive design approach and as a holistic, integral philosophy of life.