HOLISTIC WATER MANAGEMENT FOR CHALLENGING MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPES
HOLISTIC WATER MANAGEMENT FOR CHALLENGING MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPES
Geoff Lawton & Istvan Markuly · 2–4 October 2026 · IKI-GAIA, Málaga
A rare 3-day intensive course to learn holistic water management by working on a real 240-hectare Mediterranean landscape.
💧 ONLY 5 PLACES LEFT
🌱 + 2 discounted places for two people willing to support IKI-GAIA for at least 10 days before the course — ideally 15 days.
📅 2–4 October 2026
📍 IKI-GAIA · Sierra de Periana, Málaga, Southern Spain
🇬🇧 Language: English
💶 Course tuition: €600
A REAL LANDSCAPE · A REAL WATER DESIGN
This is not a conventional classroom course.
For three intensive days, participants will work directly with Geoff Lawton and Istvan Markuly on the development of IKI-GAIA’s Holistic Water Management Plan, reading the landscape and designing solutions for real challenges we are currently facing.
IKI-GAIA is a 240-hectare regenerative demonstration site at 925 metres altitude, with three permanent springs, seasonal streams, Mediterranean forest and the fascinating phenomenon of horizontal rain, where fog and low clouds contribute additional water to the ecosystem.
The course will explore how water can be slowed, spread, infiltrated, stored, redirected and reused to regenerate the landscape.
View from above the yurt, with horizontal rain in the background.
TURNING A WATER PROBLEM INTO ABUNDANCE
One of our main case studies will be the spring and stream system crossing the future development area of the Centre.
Water flows permanently from one of our springs, creating a small stream. During heavy rain events the flow increases and can overflow, causing erosion and affecting the area planned for the future natural swimming pool and car and campervan parking.
Instead of simply evacuating this water, we will explore how to work with its natural movement through the landscape.
Together we will study how the stream can be safely redirected and integrated into a regenerative system using strategies such as swales, traditional gravity-fed acequias, infiltration systems, wetlands and other water-retention structures.
The aim is to protect infrastructure while turning excess water into a resource for soil hydration, food production, biodiversity and landscape regeneration, connecting the water design with the first 3 hectares of Mediterranean syntropic agroforestry.
Observe → read the landscape → understand water flows → design → integrate → regenerate.
Water-retention wetland in the landscape
THE FACILITATORS
Sí. Los dejaría más equilibrados: Geoff algo más condensado, Istvan un poco más directo y tu perfil con la misma presencia y extensión, poniendo en valor que eres quien ha impulsado el territorio y que el curso trabaja sobre un proyecto real que conoces profundamente.
THE FACILITATORS
GEOFF LAWTON · Over 40 years regenerating landscapes worldwide
Geoff Lawton is one of the world’s most internationally recognised permaculture designers, consultants and educators, with more than four decades of practical experience in regenerative landscape design and water management.
After completing his Permaculture Design Certificate with Bill Mollison, co-founder of permaculture, in 1983, Geoff went on to work across more than 50 countries and six continents, designing, consulting and teaching in climates ranging from humid tropics to some of the world’s most challenging drylands.
He established the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia and developed Zaytuna Farm into an internationally recognised demonstration and education site. He is especially known for large-scale water harvesting, earthworks and dryland regeneration, including the internationally renowned Greening the Desert projects in Jordan.
Learning directly from Geoff while he works on the real hydrological challenges of IKI-GAIA is a rare opportunity to experience the thinking of one of the most influential regenerative landscape designers of the international permaculture movement.
ISTVAN MARKULY · International designer, implementer & water-management specialist
Istvan Markuly is an experienced permaculture designer, implementer, consultant and accredited educator, specialising in practical landscape regeneration, water management and earthworks.
With a degree in Sustainable Horticulture and Permaculture from Kinsale College in Ireland, he has continued his advanced training with internationally recognised practitioners including Geoff Lawton, Warren Brush and Paul Taylor.
His international experience spans very different ecological environments — from wetlands to drylands and desert landscapes — across Europe, Africa and Asia.
Istvan combines design with hands-on implementation: reading contours and water movement, understanding catchments, planning earthworks and translating regenerative principles into interventions that can actually be implemented on the ground.
His practical, learning-by-doing approach makes him an ideal complement to Geoff for a course where participants will work through a real Mediterranean water-management design rather than a theoretical exercise.
RAKEL DOMÍNGUEZ · Founder & Guardian of IKI-GAIA
Rakel Domínguez is the founder and principal driving force behind IKI-GAIA and President of Asociación Semilla Monte Alegre, the organisation that has been developing this 240-hectare regenerative project since 2014.
Originally trained as a journalist and anthropologist, her path has progressively integrated permaculture, regenerative education, community building and the design of new models of relationship between people and land.
Her training includes a Permaculture Design Certificate with Geoff Lawton, Ecovillage Design Education with Gaia Education, group facilitation and community-process methodologies: The council way, sociocracy, NVC… together with direct learning from regenerative projects and approaches to water-retention landscapes and Mediterranean ecosystem regeneration.
For more than a decade she has coordinated the transformation of IKI-GAIA: from infrastructure and community development to education, food production, water management, partnerships and the long-term ecological vision of the territory.
During the course, Rakel brings something essential to the design process: the accumulated knowledge of a person who lives with this landscape every day — its springs, seasonal flows, erosion patterns, soils, microclimates, infrastructure and future needs — connecting Geoff and Istvan’s international expertise with IKI-GAIA’s long-term regenerative vision.
THREE COMPLEMENTARY PERSPECTIVES · ONE REAL LANDSCAPE
Together they bring decades of international experience, hands-on implementation and intimate knowledge of the territory.
And this time, the classroom is not a classroom.
It is 240 hectares of Mediterranean landscape, three permanent springs, seasonal water flows and a living regenerative project whose future water system is ready to be designed — creating a regenerative legacy for generations to come.
ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE
The course begins:
Friday 2 October · 09:00
Participants may arrive:
Thursday 1 October · from 18:00
You are welcome to join our 19:00 community dinner on Thursday — please let us know in advance so our kitchen team can plan for you.
The course finishes on Sunday 4 October at approximately 17:00–18:00.
Participants may stay at IKI-GAIA until Monday 5 October at 12:00. Please note that Sunday dinner and Monday breakfast are not included.
ORGANIC FOOD FROM OUR LAND
We will share generous organic meals, with part of the produce coming directly from our gardens whenever seasonally available.
Options will include:
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-free
🍎 No added sugar
Food is part of the IKI-GAIA experience: eating together, close to the land and to the systems we are learning to regenerate.
FAMILIES ARE WELCOME 💚
Families and chikis are very welcome at IKI-GAIA.
We have a dedicated family space where children can play, rest or take a nap, with a small kitchen for warming or preparing food and bathroom facilities.
If you would like to come with your partner and/or children, contact us so we can explore the most suitable option together.
ACCOMMODATION
Different possibilities are available:
🏡 Inside the main house
🏕 Glamping
⛺ Bring your own tent
🚐 Campervan / motorhome
Campervan spaces are limited and allocated in order of confirmed reservation.
Accommodation and meals are not included in the course tuition. Please email us with your preferred option and number of nights and we will send you the available possibilities and corresponding contribution.
COURSE TUITION · €600
The investment for the complete three-day course is:
€600 per person
This contribution makes it possible for Asociación Semilla Monte Alegre / IKI-GAIA to bring Geoff Lawton and Istvan Markuly to the project and create this intensive learning experience on a real Mediterranean landscape.
💧 ONLY 5 PLACES LEFT
To secure your place:
1 · Reservation deposit: €300
Your place is confirmed once the payment has been received.
2 · Remaining balance + selected food/accommodation option
To be paid before 28 September 2026.
Accommodation is allocated in order of confirmed reservation, so early booking is recommended.
🌱 2 DISCOUNTED PLACES · COME EARLY & COCREATE WITH US
We are also opening 2 discounted course places for two people who would like to arrive early and help us prepare IKI-GAIA for the course.
We are looking for people able to support us for:
at least 10 days before the course — ideally 15 days.
You will help prepare the land, infrastructure and spaces while experiencing IKI-GAIA from the inside.
If this resonates with you, write to us briefly explaining who you are, your skills/experience, when you could arrive and why you would like to join us.
BE PART OF THE BEGINNING
The systems explored during these three days will not disappear when the course ends.
They are part of a long-term process to regenerate IKI-GAIA’s water cycle, establish Mediterranean syntropic agroforestry, protect infrastructure, create aquatic habitats and demonstrate practical responses to Mediterranean water challenges.
You are not only coming to learn about regenerative water management. You are joining us at the moment when the next chapter of IKI-GAIA’s water landscape begins.
INFORMATION & RESERVATIONS
Please include your name, preferred accommodation, number of nights, dietary requirements, whether you are coming with family, and whether you are interested in one of the 2 early-arrival discounted places.