ABSTRACT
Janine Benyus defines biomimicry as "the conscious emulation of life's genius", proposing that in a biomimetic world, people would manufacture, farm and develop the way animals, plants and ecosystems do, following the laws of nature. The permaculture concept was jointly developed in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, as a practical and ethical response to a world of declining energy and resource availability. Permaculture has a central role to play in which Philip Ackerman-Leist refers to as rebuilding the food shed, establishing multi-scale resilient food systems. The genius of permaculture lies in its recognition of cross-scale relationships: building thriving communities of soil organisms to support larger-scale communities of fauna and flora in creating productive, edible landscapes at a variety of scales from simple kitchen gardens to urban food forests. ABC Waters Programme encourages the use of green roofs, vertical gardens and rain gardens to improve water filtration and harvesting.
