The Permaculture Association

About Us

About permaculture 

Permaculture is a design approach based on understandings of how nature works. At its heart it has three ethics:  Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares. This makes permaculture a unique toolkit that is used to design regenerative systems at all scales – from homes and gardens to community projects, farms and bioregions – all around the world.

The word permaculture is derived from ‘perma-nent agri-culture,’ and ‘perma-nent culture’. With permaculture, people are learning how to tread lightly on our planet, in harmony with nature. We are taking care of people and fellow creatures and designing our human systems so that they can be sustained for many generations to come. Culture change not climate change!

About the Permaculture Association

Our vision

A healthy and peaceful world, where we care for each other, the earth and future generations, share resources wisely and continue to heal and regenerate communities and ecosystems.

Our Aims

1. 1. Make permaculture accessible
2. Accelerate learning about permaculture
3. Grow permaculture networks
4. Share and develop permaculture practice
5. Work with others to tackle key challenges
6. Build a smart, effective, socially responsible and sustainable organisation.

See https://permaculture.org.uk/our-work for more and to read our strategy.

We offer a wide range of activities and services that support individuals and groups:

• The membership scheme works to inform, support and network between permaculture practitioners and groups in Britain. There are currently over 1800 members.
• Our print journal Permaculture Works, published once a year, shares stories and designs from the network and updates on projects.
• We run an annual convergence, a national diploma gathering, Annual General (Tree Planting) Meeting and other events. In September 2015, we hosted the 12th International Permaculture Convergence and Conference, which engaged 1200 people from 70 countries. The 2020 online convergence had over 900 people registered.
• We support the development of permaculture education and training.
• The Projects and LAND network of demonstration sites has engaged over 40,000 in the last 6 years.
• We operate a popular set of websites, which have over 10,000 visitors each month.
• We run the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design, a network of 500 apprentices and tutors.
• We work closely with a wide range of organisations and networks.

How we are structured

• We are managed by a Board of Trustees, who are all members of the Permaculture Association, elected at the Annual General Meeting.
• We currently employ 17 part-time staff. We are supported by regular volunteers and a large number of supporters across the UK who help in a multitude of ways.
• We are an evolving organisation with a culture of trying out and adopting successful tools and systems to best deliver our work.
• We are set up and confident with remote working – at least some of our staff have been working from home since 2014 and all have been working from home since March 2020. We use Slack, Zoom, Google Drive, Miro and other digital technology to collaborate and stay connected. 
• The Chief Executive takes on day-to-day responsibility for the running of the charity.
• In addition, we have a number of working groups that focus on specific aspects of work.