Innovation

The Permaculture Design Movement is an ecological design approach aimed at creating sustainable human habitats by mimicking natural ecosystems. It integrates agriculture, architecture, and social organization to create harmonious and productive systems. Key principles include observation, working with nature, valuing diversity, and promoting regenerative practices. Permaculture designs seek to maximize resource efficiency, minimize waste, and enhance resilience. The movement was founded by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s and has since grown into a global network of practitioners and educators. It continues to evolve as a response to environmental challenges and the need for sustainable living practices.

The best example of PDC's innovative design practices can be seen in the Fumba Town Residential development in Stone Town, Zanzibar. This new housing development will someday provide green and sustainable homes for as many as 15,000 people. PDC's practice has been to increase the sustainability of the project by including green building design, ecologically sustainable treatment, and handling of waste and water, a landscape design focused on local and productive plants, and an educational training program that empowers locals with the skills they need in order to create and sustain ecological businesses.

PDC takes care of all natural and non-natural resources of Fumba Town by working in the areas of water, waste, biodiversity, food, forest, as well as education and training. They provide climate change adaptation & ecosystem services for this innovative residential development which will be the first of its kind in East Africa.

Miss B and Mister Green (Bernadette & Franko)

Inspiration

Bernadette and Franko, the husband and wife team who founded The Permaculture Design Company, wanted to create a sustainable design system that could be easily replicated in other developing nations. Their goal was to create a profitable, private company that could create ecologically sound landscaping and housing systems that would reflect a naturally self-sustaining ecosystem. They "wanted to showcase sustainable, permaculture principles in residential environments creating a healthier lifestyle for our communities, respecting and improving the biodiversity of our island and creating a place of natural beauty and wellness in which to live."

Overall impact

There are two excellent examples of PDC's innovative success. The aforementioned Fumba Town is a thriving, and growing, community that is built on bulldozed coral rock. This rock is low in organic material, fertility, and has a bad soil structure. As the moving and buying of soil in Zanzibar is illegal, Bernadette and Franko had to create their own solutions. As fifty percent of the waste in Zanzibar is organic, and can be turned to soil, they invented their own system for creating organic soil. "By layering organic materials together with charcoal, sawdust, cardboard boxes, paper etc. and letting them decompose, we were able to imitate nature’s way of soil building. It provided our landscaping plants with the nutrients needed for growth, and will continually develop our soil quality as we continue."

Furthermore, Fumba Town's landscaped spaces will be irrigated by recycling the town's own water. "This will avoid stressing the boreholes strategically positioned that supplies drinking water to the homes and businesses within the town."

PDC's first instance of using such a system was for the 5 Star Luxury Resort "Aqua Beach Lodge" on the island of Zanzibar. The soil on Zanzibar is sandy and can't hold nutrients. PDC created fertile soil by composting organic material on site, mixing it with the cardboard boxes the hotel's furniture was shipped in, seaweed they harvested on the beach in front of the resort and then mixing in locally sourced sugarcane fibers. In 1.5 years of work they were able to transform the barren beach sand into a lush garden full of indigenous plants, another garden for herbs and medicinal plants used by the hotel, and a third garden of fruit trees.

All of this lush vegetation is maintained by using a "chop and drop" system where the "garden waste is put back immediately in the landscaping. This provides mulch to reduce evapotranspiration as well as increase of fertility of the sandy soil."

Business benefit

One of the primary goals Bernadette and Franko talked about was creating a replicable system that could be duplicated in multiple countries across Africa. They also wanted their system to be able to function on its own (if they ever left the country). In pursuit of those goals, they have done everything possible to keep their operations model as simple as possible. An example of this would be the way they transport their own compost around the island to their clients. They never use bags larger than 50 pounds so that one laborer can always handle it on her/his own. They could save money by automating their packaging and transport systems but they intentionally forgo this profit so that they can employ more local labor as well as keep the operation manageable by smaller teams. They could also save money on transport by using larger trucks. They intentionally keep their delivery vehicles small so that they can be cheaply maintained.

I found it remarkable that Bernadette and Franko intentionally gave up a higher profit margin in order to keep their system simple and replicable.

Social and environmental benefit

As the labor pool on Zanzibar was not educated as to more advanced ecological systems, or really in landscaping work at all, PDC created their own internship program. They have trained over 150 local interns on their own. Some of these people still work for them, many of them have moved on to do similar work throughout Tanzania.

As other businesses in Eastern Africa see the successes PDC has created, they will pursue their own sustainably designed projects; either through Permaculture Design Company or another entity. Businesses are seeing that sustainable design can be beautiful, effective, and economically practical. Their project in Fumba Town has been an enormous success so far and they will be expanding that development exponentially in the coming years.

Interviews

Bernadette “Miss B” Kirsch, Co Founder (Wife)

Franko (Mr. Green) Göhse, Co Founder (Husband)