Ecosystem Services Provided by Permaculture

This thesis explores the sustainability potential of permaculture, a socio-ecological movement that seeks to ecologise agriculture and generate benefits across ecological, economic, and social dimensions. The research applies an integrated methodological framework grounded in the concepts of ecosystem services and nature’s contributions to people. Using a multidisciplinary mixed-methods design, the study assesses material, reg-ulating, and non-material contributions across eight permaculture farms—six located in Czechia and two in Belgium. Regulating services were evaluated through quantitative biophysical field meas-urements, material services through a combination of ecological and social science ap-proaches, and non-material services through qualitative inquiry. This holistic design al-lowed for the integration of ecological data with social science perspectives, offering a comprehensive assessment of permaculture’s contributions to multifunctionality, resili-ence, and sustainability. Results show that permaculture spans all domains of ecosystem benefits, but its particular strength lies in mobilising relational values that encourage biodiversity-support-ing practices, which in turn underpin regulating services. Permaculture demonstrates high capacity to provide regulating services and can contribute valuable insights for sustainable food futures. A slightly lower delivery of material services may inform a debate about land sharing versus land sparing in agriculture and about diet change in exchange for nutrients diversity, leading to sustainable solutions based on broad values of respect, health and prosperity.