Rainwater Catchment for Reforestation & Increased Production 

Brooks Anderson en sonora?? Ocupas voluntarios?

Good job

@@brooksanderson2599 hi im from Sonora. And I’m interested in permaculture. Thanks

@@Juliobrem Congratulations! Permaculture is key to restoring landscapes especially here in the northern drylands where overgrazing by sheep and goats have stripped the landscape bare. . My work is much more limited, focusing on home gardens in urban areas. It looks like we are in for another major drought like the 2011through 2013 one that, reportedly, killedi.1.7 million "ganado" (to include goats). I would like to hear about your work in Sonora.

@@brooksanderson2599 I really have not started yet. I’ve just found about permaculture a few months ago through a video of India, and having this droughts in Sonora im urged to start a campaign.

Thanks Bob, I'll have a look.

Correcto. Famous movie actors set 45 day targets with prizes, but eventually win/loss all villages are happy ultimately harvesting great benefits. Their living standards improved vastly. Timbektu is another project started much earlier elsewhere in india..

Why do you give it a try? If only in your small arena? or the small property of a friend or neighbor? If people see the green results...that is, the land literally turning greener...they will try it. If the people lead, the leaders will follow. I think this is our only hope.

Zia Parker we live in a small town , it's crowded with homes and none of them have any type of garden or lawn . People don't even like planting , they just won't to extend their homes to make them more spacious and dont leave Any space for planting . Also people are so uneducated that they think if tree is planted near a house , it's roots will go deeper and damage the structure on which the whole house is standing and then their house will come down . Because of lack of planting it haven't really rain since years .

Buddy I can feel your pain as I live in Here Lahore...once a time there was so much greenry in our hometown but now its declining rapidly.... By same insane minds and their illogical baseless lame excuses we have become master in destroying the Mother nature....

Well lahore is now the pollution capital.but the thing is we have to do it ourselves this bystander thing is not going to work waiting for someone else to come and do our duty

Have you heard of Wanagri Mathai? Look her up. Also if you won’t help yourself no one will be willing to help. Don’t wait for someone to change the ways of people be the change

Thanks so much for your comment Lorne, it made my day. This is my video. Zia

It scratched the surface - more for people that are new. Check out Geoff Lawton (they use some of his footage) and also the NREGA project of the Indian government. There is a pdf too, ignore the housekeeping of handling of funding, wages etc, and skip to the practical chapters.

Taking one step at a time, and creating models, that is really all we can do! But I have found that when I begin, others follow! Zia--the video's producer

Thanks for your comment. I love the Earth! Let's all keep doing everything we can to protect the rainwater.

Thanks for your kind words. NOw is the time to do ALL we can do to help this precious planet tilt back into balance with respect through all of our actions, through Permaculture, through our consumer choices, our speech patterns. Thank you for your part!

Hola Rafiq, Gracias!!

In the oh-so-brief time afforded the typical modern attention span, and thus the optimal RU-vid video length, there are many things that don't get said! But when someone actually starts to study this subject, the important distinctions, such as when is keyline more appropriate than swales, become quite apparent.

Oh, and I must add that many times swales ARE the best solution. Especially here in Ecuador where earth-works generally have to happen by hand, because of the topography. Keyline is appropriate when machinery can be used to build the water retention canals, and when machinery will be used to maintain and improve the land. Do you agree?

Hi Zia. I agree that on limited time, one cannot talk about everything, let in depth... From what I saw in the past 5 years, swales are presented (just like hugel beds and spiral gardens) as "permaculture superstar tools". It is easy to make swales and they can be adapted in some cases, I do agree. Now, the thing with swales is that they are not the best (and by best I mean cost-effective) way to retain water in the landscape. Keyline subsoiling helps retain water for a fraction of the cost. Keyline is possible with animal traction. Finally, swales scar beautiful landscapes and make it difficult to move a cart, or a vehicle, or people, or animals without the risk of hurting oneself. I'll try to find and send you the comparative study between swales and keyline: I was a swale lover and it helped me change my mind. Cheers and keep up the great work !

Here is the link to the comparison... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7DypNWNWYNk.html

I saw D. Doughtery's video and as much as I respect so much of what he has done, he is presenting a very fundamentalist view here!! And for you to say point blank " a swale is not the best solution" without further info gathering........!!&^%$#!!! This is NOT Permaculture at it's best!!! Doughtery's video and your comments are 100% irrelevant on our site. One, it is too steep for animal traction. Two, who is going to try to find or have a blacksmith made a Yeoman's plow for our one acre? On all of the consultation work I have done in Ecuador over the last 6 years, animal traction is not feasible due to the slope, and I have never seen a Yeoman's plow in Ecuador. Now, on the coastal planes here, it would be possible, and Doughtery's silly math calculations would still not be considering the myriad of variables that he didn't account for! I thought that with the Permaculture principles, we have learned to give guidlines, never say never, and heavily rely on the words "it depends".

Hi Allan, Yep, we are. We are starting a ḧome'n school native tree nursery program, puppet shows in the schools, public service project (obligatory) in the high schools, which will have the option to do tree planting, and planning for the coming rainy season to plant more and more every year. You too! I hope you are planting trees, wherever you are!

HI, this is Zia, this is my video. I see how my words were confusing for you. Wish I could see how to edit them. Publishing on RU-vid is new to me. Your project sounds great. Why don't you publish IT on youtube so people can see what you did?

What I meant by "longer" is that we made this 7 minute video after making the 4 minute version for crowd funding, which has a guideline of 3 minute max. Longer videos generally don't do well for crowd funding. Our video didn't do well either! LOL Anyway, this 7 min.+ video does explain more about the techniques of WRL (water retention landscaping).

about 36 inches, enough to support a rain forest.

Hi Jan, This is Zia responding, this is our video. My response to your comment is simply that "it's all relative". The point is that capturing rainwater and shaping the land so it can sink back into the earth is a win-win---for the land and the people.With Water Retention Landscaping, we are mimicing the conditions of a mature ecosystem. A mature forest, or a mature grassland will absorb the water and return it to the natural rain cycle. So this is a stop-gap method until the ecosystem can recover.

From what I understand, without trees, the water runs off, taking the soil with it and causing flooding, stripping the land bare.

Great, some discussion is getting generated. OK, Jan, I'll answer your question a little more directly. The 90 cm is relevant in the context that it is spoken. It is not a matter of simply how much rain falls, but how much water can we capture in the land given the annual average rainfall. Our estimate of 300,000 liters annually on one acre is also just a reference point. The concept of giving the water back to the land is the point. By reshaping the land in a way that lets the water penetrate , it feeds the water cycle and allows us to extend the rainy season. Back to our particular situation, if we got our 90 cm spread out evenly throughout the year, it would suffice, but we have very heavy rain in the rainy season, and 3-4 months of almost no rain. These methods also help stabilize the slope, and when planted with Vetiver, can minimize earthquake damage. It also captures nutrients so they can penetrate into the ground with the water.

Yes it is, of course. But if there is no way for that water to be absorbed, then it will take away the loose topsoil and erode the land into a dry desert. Then rainfall will gradually decrease, starting a dry cycle of drought. It is bad to cut down forest in most areas, unless we are talking about Scotland or some other heavy rain environment. The solution for every place depends upon the total landscape of that place.

how can I help you? Zia , the video's producer

HOla Biochar Liu, perhaps, can you comment in English or Spanish?

@@ForTheEraOfLove wow, an answer a year later, forgot what the video was about too.

? there is no reference to 9 cm of rain in this anywhere in this video! And actually, Ecuador encompasses a very wide range of ecosystems, much wider than you mention.

I am a Permaculture consultant and designer. I am qualified to teach the Permaculture Design Certificate Course. I have given lectures and workshops at universities, but have no formal affiliation with any, by choice.

Hi, We do have a volunteer program. Check it out at www.vidaverde.info

We have a volunteer program, check it out on our website: www.vidaverde.info

I think it should be clear that the 900 ml is in reference to the amount of rainwater we are collecting. The point is that significant stores of water can be collected from rain. Even in arid or hyper-arid zones, rainwater collection is good to do!

@@ziaparker2461 I know but 900 ml of rain a year is really a lot, I think it's great water is being brought back into the soil. I was just commenting on the fact that it is ONLY 900ml, whilst that being a high amount

Microphonix Virtual Studio - One person can´t change the climate. Agree. BUT ONE person can save water, one person can plant a tree, one person can make a desert or a forest. One person can make the difference. ;-) Although its also sadly true that one person can seat on his bottom and wait for "God" to do something. In fact we witness this on a daily basis... :-( The option is in your hands, not God´s.

Each every one person is responsible for natural resources

This is Zia, the video's producer. Write me about your conditions at ziaparker@zoho.com, maybe I can help.