Six members of Permaculture Sweden joined permaculture practitioners from all of Europe in the beautiful mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland for the 2018 European Permaculture Convergence Aug. 8-13.  Participation was part of Permaculture Sweden's "Capacity Building for Permaculture Teachers 2018" project, funded by Erasmus+ Adult Education Staff Mobility, Learning Experiences for Individuals.

Figure 1. European Permaculture Convergence (EUPC) 2018 participants during morning session with the Wicklow mountains in the background.

Figure 2. Left to right, top to bottom:  Nadia, Eva, Robert, Antoine, Emiilia, Jeff, Hans.  Participation of latter six funded by Erasmus+.

The Permaculture Sweden participants were all either current Permaculture Diploma candidates of the Nordic Institute of Permaculture, or had stated their intention to pursue a Permaculture Diploma. Emiilia held a much-appreciated presentation on her non-slaughter dairy farm in the south of Sweden. In addition, everyone chose to attend the many workshops and seminars according to particular interests.   Among noted by the Swedish team as being particularly enriching learning experiences included: 

• the Talanoa dialogues
• the working and planning sessions of the European Permaculture Network
• landscape reading
• teaching permaculture ethics
• the children’s program
• holistic management/regenerative agriculture practices
• alternative permaculture business and marketing models
• group dynamics and non-verbal communication
• self-care
• natural flood management
• regenerative management of grazing land
• rewilding
• forms of social action

The consequences of drought and water shortage were viscerally experienced by the convergence participants as water tanks ran dry during the event ahead of the replenishment schedule.  Non-flush compost toilets and stored-rainwater compost-heated showers proved to be resilient solutions

Building networks with fellow permaculturists in Europe and exploring foundations for possible cooperation, especially in the field of learning exchanges and permaculture education, were certainly also important goals for participants, goals which were definitely achieved!  As a concrete example, contacts made during this convergence were successfully tapped for Permaculture Sweden’s subsequent Erasmus+ (granted) application: Developing Leadership and Facilitation,Pedagogical, and Hands-On Educator Skills –Program for Permaculture Sweden (D-LEAPS 2019-2020).

Jeff Ranara