How can permaculture help shape a more healthy, sustainable and just world?
How can permaculture help shape a more healthy, sustainable and just world?
Public Talk by Rosemary Morrow
Guests for Panel Discussion:
Jenny Quinton, Founder of Ark Eden Foundation
Ellejana Lin and Parama Liang, Founders of PuguTaiwan
Date: 29th October 2025 (15:00-16:30)
Venue: KFBG Green Hub, 11 Wan Tau Kok Lane, Tai Po
Langauge: English
Fee: Free Admission
Introduction – Keynote
Most of us only encounter global humanitarian crises through news headlines. For Rosemary Morrow (Rowe), however, these crises are witnessed firsthand, as she has travelled the world to teach refugee and displaced communities about ‘permaculture’, a design system that creates self-sustaining environments by mimicking natural ecosystems. From Africa to Central and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, Rowe has worked extensively with farmers, villagers and in recent years many refugee camps in war-torn nations.
In this keynote talk, Rowe will draw on nearly 40 years of hands-on experience to share how ‘permaculture’ is not only relevant for communities in crisis, but also vital for those in both rural and urban environments worldwide. She will explore how ‘permaculture’ can empower communities and contribute to justice and peace in all areas of human life.
Coined in the 1970s, ‘permaculture’ is a design system built on three pillars: caring for the earth, caring for people and caring for future generations. Grounded in these principles, ‘permaculture’ offers a framework for regenerating environments and shaping a healthier, fairer and more sustainable world.
This talk will inspire anyone interested in rehabilitating ecosystems, fostering resilient communities and supporting ethical social transformation.
Rowe considers permaculture to be ‘sacred knowledge’ to be carried and shared with others. Her present concern is to make teaching sustainable and encourage others to succeed her as teachers. She will teach a 7-day Permaculture Teacher Training (PTT) Course on 20-27 October 2025 in Hong Kong jointly with a team of three other brilliant young permaculturists. Click here to see more details about this PTT.
Application to the Public Talk: Please Click HERE to submit your application online.
Enquiries: stellachong@kfbg.org / 852-29962838
About the Speakers
Rosemary Morrow
Born in Perth, Rosemary Morrow (Rowe) was claimed early by the Earth; plants, animals, stones, weather. After she completed an agriculture degree at Sydney University in the late 1960s, she knew she wanted a very different relationship with the land rather than treating it as a commodity to be exploited. She found this in the ethics and integrated applied science of permaculture, and has been teaching permaculture ever since to create regenerative communities and rehabilitated ecosystems.
For the last two decades, Rowe has devoted much of her time to working with refugees and the people of war-torn nations such as Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, Syria, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Uganda. She also works with communities experiencing serious effects of climate change such as the Solomon Islands, and the effects of global financial crisis like Spain, Greece and Portugal. She founded Permaculture for Refugees (P4R) with a small group of people and conducted permaculture courses in camps in seven countries with large refugee populations to establish how permaculture could provide a radically different model for refugee camps.
Jenny Quinton
Jenny Quinton is the Founder and Project Designer at Ark Eden Foundation, an eco-education permaculture community and registered charity that facilitates outdoor eco-centred events and restoration projects. She is a qualified primary school teacher, a tree-planting practitioner, a permaculturalist, a yoga teacher and conscious dance facilitator. She loves to dance outside in the forest and is always working to save Lantau and the planet.
Parama Liang
Parama graduated from National Taiwan University and majored in Business Administration; Parama served as the COO of ELIV social enterprise (Empowering Lives through Innovative Volunteerism) to assist volunteering via sustainable design in south-eastern Asia. He has started to connect with permaculture since 2013 and has been actively learning skills with farmers in Taiwan. Parama was the main interpreter to spread permaculture knowledge by learning Green Warrior Permaculture system with Steve Cran. He is the co-founder of PuguTaiwan with Ellejana, and jointly to host the first Teacher Training of Blue Mountain Permaculture Association in Taiwan of 2023.
After years of hands-on experience to create sustainable life system, he specializes in natural building, appropriate technology, and social permaculture, and joint these elements to create a one-year PDC program with lots practice in hands-on work. Now he shares own experience in various areas of Taiwan, and dedicate to bring permaculture into schools, supporting teachers by grounding the concepts of sustainable life.
Ellejana Lin
Ellejana is trained in philosophy, leisure education and ecotourism, she is an educator, a birth doula and a mother of three children. Her love and reverence for nature were awakened through mountain climbing experiences during university. While pursuing her master’s degree in the Netherlands, she had the opportunity to intern in the Philippines, which deepened her awareness of cultural differences in sustainability. After returning to Taiwan, she joined ELIV as a Project Manager, where she was responsible for ecotourism programs in Thailand and Nepal, since then she has started exploring the life of eco-villages, and interested in community building,
She is the co-founder of PuguTaiwan with Parama and organize extensive educator training to promote nature education in adherence to permaculture ethics and principles. She has many experience in farming and cultivation, and integrates her spiritual training background to combine the theories of Alpha Chi Feng Shui, including Five Elements and Seven Chakras to understand the connection with Nature and human life. This has led to the development of a unique and grounded spiritual permaculture curriculum, which is also a key feature of one-year PDC course of PuguTaiwan. It supports students in cultivating self to go in the direction of a holistic and sustainable life.
Moderator
Idy Wong
Idy is the Head of Sustainable Living of Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. She leads the development of KFBG Green Hub, which receives both local and international recognition for sustainable design and management. She holds a degree on Biochemistry, post-graduate certificate on environmental education, and master’s degrees in Buddhist Studies, Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development. She also acquired professional training on organic certification, permaculture design and ecovillage design education along the path to navigate global challenges in connection with regeneration and transformation.
