PERMACULTURE
EVALUATION
CENTRE
 |
 |
 |
 |
see our other web sites
203 Principle 10: Use And Value Diversity
It’s become common to think of environmental issues as always involving a conflict between nature’s drive for diversity and human demand for productivity. Better to design such that biodiversity becomes a valued and functional part of our world
204 Balancing productivity and diversity: survival of the fittest operates at a system level as well as an individual level
Employ other permaculture principles described here to gain a broader understanding of what’s functional and productive, rather than using limited econometric values
We should not worship particular classes of diversity and ignore others
Different species and ecosystems are most efficient at using resources available in different places – more diversity in terrestrial plants than animals
205 Where the available resources are little differentiated into niches, a single genreralist species tends to dominate
Diversity helps ecosystems to adapt to changing conditions and maintain stability. But some apparently simple ecosystems are also stable (long lived slow growing trees)
206 Diversity of age of individual specimens and genetic diversity within a species are also factors aiding stability
207 Peasant farmers persist in cultivating some apparently inferior varieties alongside superior ones for security against seasonal failures or pest/ disease attack
208 ‘Improvements’ in crop breeding are often illusory, more an unconscious change in the selection criteria and a blindness to lost attributes
209 Animal breeding – the criteria used lead to loss of intelligence, energy and hardiness
210 Diversity of traditional breeds – balance of productivity with aesthetics/ purity of line with hybrid vigour, is delicate and needs careful consideration in each case
Food fermentation cultures used to be far more diverse, we don’t know what we’ve lost
211 Cultural Globalism, Renewal of Cultures of Place
Global capitalism = cultural monoculture
Permaculture design solutions and techniques can help to restore indigenous cultures if used appropriately
212 Commonalities between traditions of place provide a powerful alternative to the global culture of no-place. Pieces of old traditions used to be combined with diversity from other places to create new local cultures that had hybrid vigour
Need to regard gardening as a serious form of agriculture , and develop a diversity of yields so they can replace central market systems
Most traditional gardens produce only a handful of varieties in abundance
213 In poor countries gardens can mean the difference between bare survival and well-being. Example of Cuba.
Tactics for producing a diversity of food in Holmgren’s own plot - list
Functional connections between species (rather than the number of different species) makes for stability
214 But can decide to be pragmatic and drop those things that don’t do well – see it as a progression towards a more refined and functional system
215 Natural proliferation: need more focus on creative processes that generate diversity rather than neo-Darwinian theories about culling or editing. Because of the inherent uncertainty about future conditions and our lack of knowledge, chaotic proliferation of almost random biodiversity is a valuable strategy, despite the high failure rate
216 Examples from Australia of surprising successes from acts of random diversity
217/8 Conventional approaches to agricultural research are useless as they don’t take account of local conditions. Better to recognise and support innovators, and take a more holistic approach. Difficult for the research community to accept this – we need a new kind of ‘sustainability science’
Permaculture needs diverse and local demonstration sites and case study documentation – this is useful even if it doesn’t provide a immediate blueprint for the future.
219 Intentional communities are only likely to flourish when economic and social options in the wider society contract. They need diversity in age, interests, livelihoods, etc among members to survive because of the need for economic exchange and interdependence within the community, let natural leaders emerge for each issue/ field of activity, foster recognition that commonality and difference are in dynamic tension
221 The climaxing and decline of energy availability will result in a reduction in human numbers, and possibly in individual diversity, while stimulating a re-emergence of localised biological and cultural diversity