Permaculture Design Course in Tramonti

The constantly involving climate change causes us humans to rethink our way of producing food or generally the way we live our lives. Globally many regions that are used for food production suffer from draught or flooding which increases the interruptions in our global food chain. Furthermore, the United Nations (UN) expect the world population to increase up to 10.4 billion people until 2080 which forces humanity to find a sustainable or even regenerative way of agriculture. 

That is why Acarbio, an organization located in Tramonti that tries to protect the local nature and traditions, organized an Erasmus+ funded called Green Paths consisted of a two-week training course about Permaculture. Acarbio invited two experienced trainers from Greece who already constructed their own Permaculture farm. The 22 participants of the training course came from different european countries (Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, Germany) which also fulfills the aim of the European Union to connect many different cultures for intercultural exchanges. 

The Greeners Youth Club of Amalfi Coast was there as well, try to understand  why is Permaculture such an important part to tackle climate change?

Permaculture is a regenerative way of living. The focus lies on creating symbioses, using “waste” or previously unused resources and include them into the natural circulation. Concretely this means for example improving the water management to catch all the rainwater, planting crops that complement each other and organizing a garden in the most efficient way with short routes to daily used tools. 

But Permaculture teaches not only about agriculture. It also involves social aspects like sharing resources equally. As the climate change has an impact on all the planet it is important to act as one and tackle it together. 

But what activities where organized to teach the participants? With a mix of theoretical and practical sessions the training course gave important tools to the participants for implementing the knowledge in their own garden or in future projects. The practical part consisted of constructing usable equipment like stone ovens, solar ovens or wooden barriers in the nearby chestnut forest by using only materials that could be found in the nearby area. 

In addition, the participants learned the best way to treat their crops and plants and trained planting the seedlings into the soil. 

To also improve the soil different types of compost were created like a worm compost and a hot compost. To finish the training course the participants were divided into 4 groups and worked on four different Permaculture designs which have been presented to the other participants and the trainers.

With the help of The Greeners, the participants were taken for a visit in the traditional terraced agriculture field and gained important information about how they cultivate their fields.

Especially the inhabitants of the beautiful Amalfi Coast are used to cope with natural difficulties. The coast is known for the characteristic steep cliffs that could not be used for agriculture in the past. But people adopted to their conditions and created the famous terraces that are known all over the world. With this solution the people were able to use this area for producing food. Forming these terraces is also a form of Permaculture as this allows water to spread evenly and giving the water enough time to soak into the soil. Water is used in the most efficient way possible. 

Permaculture therefore protects the local landscape, increases the biodiversity and also provides the local people with a new way of thinking and doing agriculture. In addition, some participants will also be working as youth trainers in their countries and therefore can spread the knowledge to reach an international and sustainable impact.