School of Economics and Business Administration

Executive MBA programme

Coursework Cover Form

School of Economics and Business Administration

Executive MBA programme

Coursework Cover Form

Executive MBA programme

Coursework Cover Form

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this project is the establishment of the first eco-village in the area of Northern Greece. The ecovillage concept is about helping people to become more environmental responsible, live more self-sufficiently and ethically, and providing people with the information they need to make responsible decisions about how they live their lives. A community of like-minded people, who know the importance of looking after our planet and celebrating the diversity it contains. But for an idea to become reality there must be more facts. In our case we study the feasibility of developing the first holistic ecovillage in Northern Greece, the dream of a group of twelve people, who are willing to move to an area far from the big cities where they will mange to leave self-reliantly without polluting and harming the environment.

The current work is a business plan of the aforementioned project. Extensive research has been conducted in order to find information helpful for the realization of this project such as for finding available land, green construction techniques and energy saving technologies, farming techniques and crop varieties etc. Then, given the restrictions provided by our available budgeting, we had to choose the resources and techniques that would apply best to our case.

Far from just helping to the realization of our eco-dream, this business plan could provide help to other people sharing the same vision, providing a framework for thought and further improvements.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this project is the establishment of the first eco-village in the area of Northern Greece. In order though to make our proposal attractive for funding, we should clearly state our purpose, vision but first of all what is exactly that we want to create. Therefore above all we want to give an insight of what an Eco-village is.

Under the term eco-village it is understood the creation of an eco-community, which can be named any socially, financially and ecologically residential, intentional community. (http://www.oikorama-ngo.gr/index.php/2008-10-26-20-18-44.html)

An intentional community, in comparison with common communities, is a residential community designed to operate thanks to close teamwork of its members. The members of an intentional community are typically people who strive together because they share a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision. They choose to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. They typically also share responsibilities and resources. Ecovillages, among others, are a specific form of intentional communities. What sets them apart is their explicit emphasis on ecology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community )

The term “Eco-village” actually only became prominent in 1991, when Robert Gilman, the president of Context Institute, a nonprofit research organization that explores what is involved in creating a humane sustainable culture, wrote an article entitled “The Eco-village Challenge”.

( http://www.abroadview.org/avmag/2008spring_kessler.htm)

Gilman defined an Eco-village as a “human-scale, full-featured settlement, in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.” Through this definition he has set five major principles:

1. An eco-village is a “human scale,” referring to a population within which it is possible to know and be known by others and to feel a personal contact with the community. Generally the population where this can be achieved is about 100 to 500 people.

2. It is a “full-featured settlement,” in that day-to-day needs like shelter, employment, and recreation are satisfied within the community.

3. It is a place in which “human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world”; eco-villages use renewable energy, compost waste, and avoid toxic substances.

4. It ”supports healthy human development.”; eco-villages promote growth in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of healthy life.

5. It can be ”successfully continued into the indefinite future.” Eco-villages must be sustainable, which means they cannot be dependent upon unsustainable practices elsewhere or exclusive of a stage of life such as childhood or old age.

http://gen.ecovillage.org/iservices/publications/articles/av_08_spring_ecovillages.pdf

Toward the end of the 20th century, as environmental problems became increasingly salient, eco-villages started to appear as one solution to the major problems of our time: our planets’ limits to growth and natural resources. According to increasing numbers of scientists, we have to learn to live sustainably if we are to survive as a species. The United Nations in its Global Environment Outlook 2000 report concluded, based on reports from UN agencies, 850 individuals and over 30 environmental institutes, that "the present course is unsustainable and postponing action is no longer an option."

Ecovillages are an outcome of citizens trying to lower their ecological footprints while increasing their sense of belonging and purpose. By endeavouring for lifestyles which are "successfully continuable into the indefinite future", they constitute living models of sustainability, and examples of how action can be taken immediately. The power of human communities to come together and co-design their own pathway into the future is seen as a major driving force for positive change. Therefore, ecovillages are rapidly gaining recognition as demonstrations sites of sustainability in practice and as places of inspiration for the wider society. They represent an effective, accessible way to fight against the degradation of our social, ecological and spiritual environments. In 1998, ecovillages were first officially named among the United Nations' top 100 listing of Best Practices, as excellent models of sustainable living.

http://gen.ecovillage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=175

Gilman’s definition describes though an ideal type ecovillage, rather than a community’s defining characteristics. We would better say that these criteria tend to determine an ecovillage’s overall objectives. As sociologist Debbie Van Schyndel Kasper (2008, Human Ecology Review, Vol. 15, No 1) points out, “Though some degree of energy and resource independence is desirable, ecovillages do not aspire to be completely self-sufficient, nor are they meant to be isolated communities of escape.”. Ecovillages are rather intended to be linked in networks of social, economic, and political ties, and the accordingly created ecovillage movement has been steadily working toward that goal. The movement has found its formal organizational home with the formation of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) in 1995 by 25 community representatives from around the world. GEN is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. GEN serves as umbrella organization for ecovillages, transition town initiatives, intentional communities, and ecologically-minded individuals worldwide with the mission to provide networking services and leadership to the expanding network of individuals, organizations, and communities who are implementing sustainability practices around the world. GEN has set four dimensions of sustainability for an ecovillage, Social/Community, Ecology, Cultural/Spiritual and economical, and describes them as following:

Community means:

· Recognizing and relating to others

· Sharing common resources and providing mutual aid

· Emphasizing holistic and preventive health practices

· Providing meaningful work and sustenance to all members

· Integrating marginal groups

· Promoting unending education

· Encouraging unity through respect for differences

· Fostering cultural expression

Ecology means:

· Growing food as much as possible within the community bio-region

· supporting organic food production there

· Creating homes out of locally adapted materials

· Using village-based integrated renewable energy systems

· Protecting biodiversity

· Fostering ecological business principles

· Assessing the life cycle of all products used in the ecovillage from a social and spiritual as well as an ecological point of view

· Preserving clean soil, water and air through proper energy and waste management

· Protecting nature and safeguarding wilderness areas

Cultural and spiritual vitality means:

· Shared creativity, artistic expression, cultural activities, rituals and celebrations

· Sense of community unityand mutual support

· Respect and support for spirituality manifesting in many ways

· Shared vision and agreements that express commitments, cultural heritage and the uniqueness of each community

· Flexibility and successful responsiveness to difficulties that arise

· Understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all the elements of life on Earth and the community's place in and relation to the whole

· Creation of a peaceful, loving, sustainable world

Economic Vitality means:

· Keeping the money in the community,

· Circulating it through as many hands as possible,

· Earning it, spending it, and investing it in member-owned retail and service businesses,

· Saving it in home-grown financial institutions.

(http://gen-europe.org/ecovillages/about-ecovillages/index.htm)

What would be different in our eco-village is that we aspire to be the first holistic touristic-agricultural community based on the principles of permaculture.

Permaculture is one of the most holistic, integrated systems analysis and design methodologies found in the world. It is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. The word came up from a contraction of “permanent agriculture”, and “permanent culture”. The method has been introduced scientifically by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s. Permacutlure teaches us how to build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more.

http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/classroom/

Permaculture is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximise effect and minimise work. It aims to create stable, productive systems by harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Within a Permaculture system, work is minimised, "wastes" become resources, productivity and yields increase, and environments are restored. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture)

More recently, permaculture has expanded its purview to include economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. (http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/perma.html#intro)

Permaculture is not limited to plant and animal agriculture, but also includes community planning and development, use of appropriate technologies, and adoption of concepts and philosophies that are both earth-based and people-centered. Many of the appropriate technologies advocated by permaculturists are well known. Among these are solar and wind power, composting toilets, solar greenhouses, energy efficient housing, and solar food cooking and drying.

Due to the inherent sustainability of perennial cropping systems, permaculture places a heavy emphasis on tree crops. Systems that integrate annual and perennial crops take advantage of "the edge effect," increase biological diversity, and offer other characteristics missing in monoculture systems. Thus, multicropping systems that blend woody perennials and annuals hold promise as viable techniques for large-scale farming. Ecological methods of production for any specific crop or farming system (e.g., soil building practices, biological pest control, composting) are central to permaculture as well as to sustainable agriculture in general.

Since permaculture is not a production system, per se, but rather a land use and community planning philosophy, it is not limited to a specific method of production. Furthermore, as permaculture principles may be adapted to farms or villages worldwide, it is site specific and therefore amenable to locally adapted techniques of production. As an example, standard organic farming and gardening techniques utilizing cover crops, green manures, crop rotation, and mulches are emphasized in permacultural systems. However, there are many other options and technologies available and the decision as to which "system" is employed is site-specific and management dependent.

Water collection, management, and re-use systems as well as recycling play also an important role in permaculture designs.

So, the basic permaculture principles and guidelines are as follows:

“Let nature do it.”: For any activity that needs to be accomplished, someone should first consider if there are any biological or other natural ways to accomplish the goal before considering mechanical and chemical means. This doesn't mean that, in the final analysis, someone will always choose the biological resource, but he/she should be at least aware of the natural alternatives.

“Integrate your functions.”: When considering the different elements of a landscape, someone should consider not only their products, but also their functions. There should be multiple functions for single elements. For instance, the chicken is not only an egg, meat, and feather producer, but it can function as a tractor, herbicide, pesticide, and a bag of fertilizer. If well placed and managed, chickens can be used to prepare soil during planting with their scratching. They will eat weeds and weed seeds, as well as numerous insects and small slugs, all while spreading their nitrogen-rich manure. From this multi-functional perspective, hedges, ponds, chicken yards, walls, fences - all elements of the design - take on new meaning and purpose.

“Plan the physical layout.”: The three main concepts here are zoning, sector planning, and relative location. Zoning locates the various components of the landscape based upon labour needs: those that require frequent visiting and are labor intensive are located nearest to the area of greatest activity, usually the house. Those that require less labour are placed further. According to this, house is zone 0, followed then by zones 1, 2, 3, and 4. Ideally, according however to the actual topography of the property, the herb and salad garden with edible flowers and the like, are located in zone 1 - close to the kitchen door. Zone 2 is includes the annual garden, greenhouse, chicken coop, and other landscape components that require daily or frequent attention. Zone 3 serves well for the permanent crops and large stock housing. Zone 4 includes the areas that only need to be visited several times per year such as the wood lot.

The relative location of each element to each other is also an important factor. If the chickens, greenhouse, and garden for example all require the installation of a water line, clustering these three elements can reduce the amount of pipe required, installation labour and money(Sego Jackson, 1984).

These principles and guidelines would all be taken into consideration during the design process of our project.

MISSION

Our mission comprises the following aspects: To live harmoniously with the natural world as well as with one another. To create a community that its members will act as a whole for the welfare of all community members, with mutual respect for each other and by sharing their resources. To show others how to properly utilize land for both habitation and retention of the maximum amount of natural habitat. To constitute a guiding paradigm of a sustainable and self-sufficient community.