Andhana Adyandra (13/09/1991) is an Indonesian permaculture (permanent agriculture) systems designer and practitioner. In 2016, Andhana co-founded Mahayana Permaculture, an organization that designs and creates sustainable systems which aims to make full use of the tropical world’s potential.

 

A large part of his work is in the field of agroforestry, using the principles of permaculture and regenerative agriculture. These methods, when applied to initially unproductive land, results in a biodiverse forest which provides an abundant source of food, timber, energy and medicine for people. Alongside production, the forest also performs vital ecosystemic functions such as carbon sequestration, climate moderation, soil nutrient retention and improving the hydrological cycle.

 

Under the mentorship of esteemed forester and microbiologist, Dr. Willie Smits, Mahayana Permaculture is working on a 23-hectare plot of land near Penajam Paser Utara, East Borneo. Coincidentally, this will be the location of the new Capital of Indonesia. Here, Mahayana Permaculture will trial and implement their permaculture theories.  Successful findings on this plot of land will be replicated to 170,000 hectares of land owned by Arsari Enviro Industries, their partner company. The ultimate outcome is the replication of this sustainable system in the 10.8 million hectares of degraded land in Indonesia and eventually 50 million hectares worldwide.

 

Andhana understands that the tropics, especially Indonesia, has a huge part to play in helping mitigate global challenges, most notably climate change and the environmental crisis. He believes that we can not only cope with the crisis, but also prosper in the midst of it. This is because he understands that biology is on his side: the tropics is the most biodiverse and fast-growing places in the world. His challenge is to turn that potential into the triple bottom line of “people, planet and profit” using permaculture design principles.