Permaculture is both a philosophy and a set of design principles aimed at integrating human needs and desires with those of the more-than-human world within a given landscape. In practice this means designing agricultural systems which combine beauty and amenity value with yields, whilst also increasing soil health and biodiversity. 

Permaculture draws on many sources, from indigenous knowledge to Systems Theory and traditional ecology. It can be practised at any scale, from a small back garden to a whole farm, and even entire administrative regions. As extractive industrial agriculture eagerly digs its own grave, depleting and eroding soils at an alarming rate while producing enormous emissions, permaculture projects around the world are showing that another world is possible. From literally turning the desert green to simply producing bountiful harvests without the need for chemical inputs, practitioners are showing that it is possible to turn away from destructive monocultures towards resilience rooted in diversity. Incidents such as the pandemic or the blocking of the Suez Canal which illustrate the fragility of global supply systems are all around us and the need for resilient systems which can meet our basic needs has never been clearer – the future is local.