An overview
There is no formal national level permaculture organization in Finland. However, there are increasing possibilities for permaculture education and also more and more people get educated abroad or online. The network is growing and many self-organized learning events are popping up. A conversation about national level organization has been going on for some time.
There are national communication channels hosted by volunteers, a study group in Helsinki and recurring unofficial gatherings in many cities.
* email-list: permakulttuuritiedotus@googlegroups.org (300 members)
* forum: http://permakulttuuri.fi/
* facebook-group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/110622338125/
There are two finnish books on Permaculture: Aikidoa luonnon kanssa (1997) and Riippumaton puutarha (2012). None of the international PC books have been translated in Finnish so far.
The applying association in EPT Partnership was the Elävän Kulttuurin Koroinen, which is a local association in Turku and very actively participating in raising the level of permaculture knowledge in Finland. Many permaculture gatherings have been held in Koroinen recently. At the moment all the courses and workshops are organized either at Koroinen or by an active individual permaculture practitioner somewhere else.
There has been quite many introductory courses after 2012 led by finnish PDC holders. Six Permaculture Desingn Courses in Finland ever, two of them in 1995-1997 and four of them in 2011-2013. Teachers have come from UK (Stephen Nutt, Aranya, George Sobol twice and Peter Cow), the course language has been English. A story tells that a finnish couple Riipinen taught one of the PDC’s in the 90’s.
There is no official Diploma Path in Finland yet. Currently five persons based in Finland are on a Diploma Path, all have tutors from UK if they are taking the supported route. Most of them have started 2013 or 2014, and some of them have formed a “diploma quild” that meets regularly to share knowledge.
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Written by Tanja Korvenmaa & Joel Rosenberg
at EPT meeting in Friland, Denmark on 29th of May 2014