Permaculture-based Disaster Relief

The Permaculture Association of the Northeast (PAN) is hosting a new webinar series exploring regional and international permaculture career pathways. The first webinar will feature the work of three women practitioners – Pippa Buchanan, Prabina Shrestha, and Tara Rodriguez Besosa – doing permaculture-based disaster-relief and social justice work.

Pippa Buchanan is a resilience and sustainability educator based in Linz, Austria and originally from Adelaide, Australia. Her focus is in working with individuals and groups to discuss, experiment and develop how they can develop safe and abundant futures for their households, organizations and communities. She is also a researcher at Permaculture and Disaster Risk Reduction. Pippa’s work is informed by permaculture, community-driven action and open technologies and processes.

Prabina Shrestha is the Village/Program Coordinator of Nepal’s Resilience Through Recovery (RTR) program. Her work is focused in Nuwakot and Kavre, two villages in the center region of Nepal. RTR formed after the 2015 earthquake, to integrate permaculture systems with rebuilding efforts. Local partner, the Himalayan Permaculture Centre, supports locally trained barefoot consultants, while the Kamala Foundation provides financial support to Prabina’s Sunrise Farm to help with coordination. Prabina says, “We are working in two villages. In both cases nearly 100% of houses were destroyed or damage.”

Tara Rodríguez Besosa manages The Resilience Fund of Puerto Rico, which is based on five support pillars: Seeds + Sowing; Reforestation; Renewable Energy; Rainwater Collection; and Well-being. Says Tara, “Support for sustainable agriculture is of great value for the just recovery of our country. Puerto Rico deserves well-being, health, prosperity and local food that does not pollute our ecosystems.”

More info on the webinar series, regional gatherings, membership, and other resources can be found on PAN’s website.