Eyre Bio-Regional Permaculture Group (EBRPG)

Project Profile

Issues

The Eyre Bio-Regional Permaculture Group (EBRPG) members are tireless volunteers who promote urban and peri-urban natural resource management through permaculture initiatives. Group members have been innovative in the way they reach out to the wider community, using a variety of means to communicate and effect on-ground change. The group has created its own professional Permaculture DVDs demonstrating the benefits of Permaculture, the ethics that sit behind Permaculture principles and ways in which Permaculture can help the environment.

Project Detail

Eyre Bio-Regional Permaculture Group (EBRPG) has been nominated for a National Landcare Award for its work promoting Natural Resource Management permaculture initiatives in urban and peri-urban areas.

A main aim of the EBRPG is to create greater awareness and understanding of sustainable gardening practices through the implementation of permaculture principles within the urban and peri-urban NRM contexts. The group members are very active, using a range of innovative methods to share their knowledge.

The Group promotes sustainable urban lifestyles by giving people tools and techniques to create, for example, sustainable gardens, whether on large properties, urban backyards, units or window sills. The Group promotes the philosophy that permaculture is for everyone.

Group members have been innovative in the way they reach out to the wider community, using a variety of means to communicate and effect on-ground change. The group has created its own professional Permaculture DVDs demonstrating the benefits of permaculture, the ethics that sit behind permaculture principles and ways in which permaculture can help the environment. It has also produced a DVD about Murray’s Point, an environment adjacent to the city of Port Lincoln that supports 14 threatened species. The Group has developed a professional brochure it uses for sharing knowledge, advertising and recruiting and develops training resources it makes freely available to the community. Examples of these resources include brochures such as, “What weed is that?” and “How to create a wicking box”. The Group holds displays and workshops at the local library, community events and formal training sessions.

The Eyre Bio-Regional Permaculture Group has worked with a range of partners to implement school and community gardens. These projects incorporate permaculture principles addressing urban NRM issues such as minimising the use of water and chemicals while simultaneously maximising the use of natural processes for weed suppression and fertilization.

Particularly important in the community garden projects are the water saving techniques and incorporation of chemical free practices. In addition, companion planting and the use of natural processes to manage weeds and fertilising, help relieve the stress to the urban environments that currently rely heavily on produce being brought in from Adelaide.

Eyre Bio-Regional Permaculture Group (EBRPG) is one of 88 finalists in the National Landcare Awards to be announced in Canberra on 24 June 2010.  Commencing in 1991, the Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups that make a valuable contribution to the land and coast where they live and work.

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