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IPC 10 Conference Speakers
Nadia Lawton was born and raised in the Jordan (Dead Sea) Valley, in the lowest and one of the driest places on earth. She completed her PDC with Sindhu Webber in Jordan and went on to complete a Permaculture Diploma in Education and Site Design. She regularly travels with her husband for aid project and permaculture consulting work, and assists in teaching permaculture design courses. Nadia established PRI Jordan and the Jawasari Permaculture Society.
Nadia will be opening the IPC Conference with a warm Jordanian welcome.
Roberto Perez Rivero
Roberto has been involved in Cuban Activities with IUCN since 2004, he has traveled and taught or lectured in more than 25 countries. Roberto has taught Permaculture in Cuba, Ecuador and Canada and lectured extensively in Australia, New Zealand and the UK in 2008. He has been interviewed in the written press, radio and TV in several countries. He was featured in the documentary The Power of Community in 2006. Sameeh al Nuimat: Rainwater Harvesting to Increase Per Capita Share of Water in Dry Regions (a Case Study from Jordan)
Available technologies for water-saving are not well demonstrated or marketed to decrease the impact of climate change on the vulnerable livelihoods of rural farmers in the dry lands. Also, many people/farmers use inefficient and counter-productive solutions to overcome difficulties related to water shortages and climatic change and erratic conditions. In short, whether through lack of knowledge, funds, absence of strategic planning, or participation, current practices undermine natural resource management objectives and are detrimental to the country’s development prospects. Many locals inherited a wide range of experience with adaptation to water shortages and rainfall fluctuation from traditional ways, ranging from harvesting rainfall around individual trees and storing it in the tree root zone, to harvesting rainfall and saving it for future uses in underground water wells after lining it with lime and sand in the past and with cement and sand more recently. Background: Sameeh al Nuimat is a certified agriculture engineer as well as civil engineer and Permaculture designer. He has worked for over 25 years with the ministry of agriculture, inspiring people to improve livelihoods through better management of their natural resources, and managing living in a sustainable manner. He is a project manager of a Permaculture project with CARE International, Jordan, working to minimize the impact of climatic changes on livelihoods of vulnerable rural farmers through demonstrating integration of affordable and easily replicable cost-effective techniques. Sameeh is also a farmer, running his own organic farm and is a head of a voluntary society working for welfare of the local people in his home village. He works extensively in Permaculture education and sustainable systems design in Jordan. He has devoted many years to improve management of natural resources in a sustainable manner with integrity in his home village through building the capacity of the local CBO and running a revolving loan scheme among the locals.
Brad Lancaster: "Water Harvesting in Urban Environments"
Background: Brad Lancaster is the author of the best-selling, and award-winning books Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volumes 1 and 2. Living on an eighth of an acre (0.05 ha) in downtown Tucson, Arizona, where rainfall is less than 12 inches (305 mm) annually, Brad practices what he preaches by harvesting over 100,000 gallons (379,000 liters) of rainwater a year., creating an oasis in the desert by directing this harvested rainwater not off their property and into storm drains, but instead incorporating it into living air conditioners of food-bearing shade trees, abundant gardens, and a thriving landscape that includes habitat for wildlife. This living example, dynamic public talks, and countless hands-on workshops have inspired thousands of citizens and numerous businesses in Tucson and around the country to harvest water and sustainably grow their local resources.
Brad's engaging style and entertaining and informative speaking and teaching are in demand resulting in interviews with National Public Radio, New Dimensions, and Natural Home and Garden, along with presentations and workshops for the Bioneers Convergence, the Green Festival, the Texas Natural Building Colloquium, the New Mexico Xeriscape Conference, Organic Farming Conferences, the U.S. State Department in the Middle East, and more.
Brad Lancaster is a permaculture teacher, designer, consultant and co-founder of native foods non-profit Desert Harvesters (DesertHarvesters.org). Brad has taught programs for the ECOSA Institute, Columbia University, University of Arizona, Prescott College, Audubon Expeditions, and many others. He has helped design integrated water harvesting and permaculture systems for homeowners and gardeners, including the Tucson Audubon Simpson Farm restoration site, and the award-winning Milagro and Stone Curves co-housing projects.
Tony Rinoudo: "Against the odds: Reversing desertification in arid and semi arid lands"
Topic: Tony will speak on the development and spread of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) from a just a dozen hectares and a handful of villagers in 1983 to in excess of 6 million hectares today with activities commenced in seven countries and interest growing in others. I will share critical success factors - why and how FMNR spread and what is needed for those wanting to promote it in other regions. This will be the main focus of the presentation, but I will also give a summary of where we are up to in developing and promoting edible seeded Australian acacias for human nutrition and agroforestry farming systems for semi arid regions.
Background: After gaining a Bachelor of Rural Science and Bible and Missions Certificate, Tony and his wife Liz spent 18 years in Niger Republic with the organization ‘Serving in Mission’. Tony managed the Maradi Integrated Development Project from 1981 to 1999. This included managing famine relief interventions and long term agricultural development programs promoting organic farming, reforestation, diversified food production systems and community based health. The natural-regeneration reforestation methods developed and promoted have been taken up by farmers and contributed to over five million hectares of land being re-vegetated in Niger alone. Tony was also instrumental in introducing edible seeded Australian acacias into Nigerien farming systems and for their promotion as a human food. Tony joined World Vision in 1999. In his initial position as senior country Program Coordinator he oversaw projects in a number of African countries. In 2008 Tony completed the Permaculture Design Course under Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. Today Tony is the natural resource management advisor for World Vision and in this capacity he gives input into agricultural, forestry and environmental projects. During 2009, Tony led the Agricultural Task Force which did assessments of World Vision Agricultural programs in three pilot countries and made recommendations. Tony leads workshops on reforestation, environment and sustainable agriculture. Geoff Lawton: "The Permaculture Master Plan Concept - Establishing Self-Replicating Permaculture Sites Worldwide"
Background: Geoff Lawton is an internationally-renowned permaculture educator, consultant and practitioner. He emigrated from England to Australia and later studied permaculture with Bill Mollison in Tasmania. He established the Permaculture Research Institute at Tagari Farm in New South Wales, Australia, a 147-acre farmstead previously developed by Mollison. PRI was eventually moved to Zaytuna Farm, in The Channon, where it continues today. Since 1985, Geoff has designed and implemented permaculture projects in 30 countries for private individuals and groups, communities, governments, aid organizations, and multinational corporations. He has taught the Permaculture Design Certificate course and designed permaculture projects in 30 countries.
Rhamis Kent: "Permaculture in Somalia"
Background: Rhamis Kent is a consultant with formal training in mechanical engineering (University of Delaware, B.S.M.E. '95) and permaculture-based regenerative whole systems design. He has previously worked for the renowned American inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen at DEKA R & D for almost 3 years, with subsequent engineering work ranging from medical device research and development to aerospace oriented mechanical design. After taking an interest in the design science of Permaculture, he sought extended training with permaculture expert and educator Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. This led to his involvement with design work connected to the development of Masdar City in UAE after Mr. Lawton and Mr. Lawton's consulting company (Permaculture Sustainable Consultancy Pty. Ltd.) were contracted by AECOM/EDAW to identify solutions which fit the challenging zero emissions/carbon neutral design constraint of the project.
Warren Brush: "Permaculture and peacemaking in a thirsty world"
Background: Warren Brush is a certified Permaculture designer and teacher as well as a mentor and storyteller. He has worked for over 25 years in inspiring people of all ages to discover, nurture and express their inherent gifts while living in a sustainable manner. He is co-founder of Quail Springs Learning Oasis & Permaculture Farm, Sustainable Vocations, Wilderness Youth Project, Trees for Children and his Permaculture design company, True Nature Design. He works extensively in Permaculture education and sustainable systems design in North America and in Africa as well as in other countries worldwide. He has devoted many years to mentoring youth to inspire and equip them to live in a sustainable manner with integrity and a hopeful outlook. His mentoring includes working with those who are former child soldiers, orphans, from troubled families and situations as well as those youth from other varied and privileged backgrounds.
Topic: Bill Mollison on: Virtually unknown, rarely applied yet quite effective - desert Permaculture design strategies, for hot and cold deserts, never before published or presented in a design course. Plus, a plant typology of deserts.
Background: Bill Mollison is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher and naturalist. He is the developer of the curriculum for the world class Permaculture Design Course, and authors many other books dealing with Permaculture. He Established and continues to Direct the first and longest running Permaculture Institute in existence. He is the first teacher of anything Permaculture both domestically and on a global scale and continues teaching Permaculture Design Courses today, most recently in Istanbul in Nov 2010. |
Biologist, Permaculture Designer, Teacher, Community Based Resource Management Advisor and Sustainability activist. Roberto has more than 17 years of experience in Sustainable and Urban Agriculture, Permaculture, Community Development, Environmental Education, Biodiversity Conservation, Research and International Cooperation Issues in Cuba. Roberto has been a coordinator of the Environmental Education and Biodiversity Conservation Program at the Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Humanity since 1999, a Cuban NGO that has been the host of Permaculture in Cuba since 1995.
Topic: Overpaved, drain-like urban environments eject precious local resources such as rainwater, creating the 'need' to import water from afar. This creates liabilities such as flooding, water shortages, pollution, and hotter temperatures paired with higher energy consumption. But we can create sponge-like urban environments that harvest resources such as rainwater, stormwater, greywater, and condensate as close to their sources as possible. In so doing, we turn would-be liabilities into assets such as street orchards that control flooding and produce food; more resilient and more numerous water resources; living filters of soil, water, and air; and temperature-reducing, energy-conserving and -producing oases of life. Examples, from small- to large-scale, from ancient to contemporary, from the Middle East and around the world, will be presented. 
Topic: Geoff will discuss the strategy of establishing new permaculture sites worldwide by making them both demonstrational and educational in scope, making them both financially self-sufficient (through courses) as they reach out to support the communities around them with situation-appropriate knowledge and skills, whilst the locals observe and become inspired by the transformation of the project's land through permaculture design strategies. He will share experiences on some of the many projects he's currently involved in - both successes and failures and lessons learned along the way.
Topic: Rhamis will be discussing how the application of permaculture water harvesting earthworks infrastructure will be used to address the ecological challenges faced in Northern Somalia. Of particular interest will be the Sanaag Region, which includes The Cal Madow Mountain Range. Cal Madow's environment has suffered greatly in recent years along with its ecology, much of which is unique to it. Only a fraction of the flora remains, and its distribution remains sparse and unprotected. Although local knowledge of natural resources endemic to the area is great, agricultural and social projects as well as United Nations and foreign-aided development schemes usually fail to consider or make use of this insight.
Topic: As key life-support systems worldwide move closer to the brink of disaster, billions of people worldwide are struggling to meet their basic needs for themselves and their children and which oftentimes results in the rise of violence and oppression. Healthy and clean water is quickly becoming what may be termed as the most significant issue of our time as more and more people around the world are not able to quench their basic life-sustaining thirst with abundant and non-polluted water. Permaculture around the globe is demonstrating itself to be a key player in solving the root causes of hostility and aggression in these tenuous times through the design and application of creative integrated systems of shelter, water, energy and food that honor diverse ecological, social, cultural and economic needs. Warren will be sharing stories from around the world of successful peacemaking endeavors that are using permaculture as the foundation of positive and hopeful change in our "thirsty world."
Bill Mollison: "Water in drylands"