General National Id Portugal_02 Site name Tamera community, Monte do Cerro, Odemira Municipality (located 20 kms off the west coast in the south of the country) Summary Water retention spaces, reforestation and grazing management in southern Portugal. The ecovillage of Tamera is a community of 190 permanent residents (and more than 100 non-permanent inhabitants) living in a property in the South of Portugal (Monte do Cerro, municipality of Odemira). The application designed and implemented in this location consists of the creation of “Water Retention Landscapes” by means of the following measures: reforestation and the planting of mixed-culture ground cover vegetation; holistic grazing management; keyline design; terracing; swales; and the most well-know measure, the construction of water retention spaces in the form of decentralized lakes and ponds. Light or indepth? Light NUTS Code Alentejo RBD code PTRH6 Transboundary 0 NWRM(s) implemented in the case study Targeted planting for 'catching' precipitation Land use conversion Continuous cover forestry Crop rotation Traditional terracing Basins and ponds Lake restoration Swales Longitude -8.51583333333 Latitude 37.715 Site information Climate zone warm temperate dry Mean rainfall 1065 Mean rainfall unit mm/year Average temperature 14.5 Mean runoff 250 Mean runoff unit 450 - 600 mm Type Case Study Info Monitoring maintenance Monitoring impacts effects 1 Performance Performance impact estimation method Catchment outlet Performance impact estimation information The inhabitants themselves (and specially, the Ecology Department of the community under the form of a specific association -AMH-) are in charge of the assesing the degree of compliance with the objectives with the support of external experts (such as the Permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer, or from several universities) Design & implementations Application scale Field Scale Installation date 2007 Age 5 Performance timescale 1 - 4 years Area (ha) 133 Area subject to Land use change or Management/Practice change (ha) 133 Favourable preconditions Contruction water retention spaces: favorable site conditions (geology, soil permeability, topography, catchment annual runoff…) Design contractual arrangement Arrangement type Responsibility Role Comments Name Design consultation activity Activity stage Key issues Name Comments Design land use change Land use change type Design authority Authority type Role Responsibility Name Comments Private property owners Initiation of the measure ILOs Peace Research Center Lda. ILOS owns Tamera and its infrastructure. ILO is also owned by the associations “G.R.A.C.E.” and “Associação para um Mundo Humanitario” (AMH). Private property owners Determination of design details of the measure The Associação para um Mundo Humanitario (AMH) Responsible for the environmental and technological research projects carried out in Tamera (the Water Retention Landscape, the Solar Village Test Field, ecological landscape healing, the reforestation project, building alimentary biotopes) and for establishing the regional network. Permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer was responsible for the technical design details of the water retantion spaces. Private property owners Other The G.R.A.C.E Association Responsible for the field of peace education (including the Global Campus, the youth school for global education, Place of the Children, as well as internal education and global peace actions). Private property owners Other The Support Circle Group of people supporting Tamera’s work with a regular (monthly) contribution. Lessons, risks, implications... Key lessons Finalist for the 2012 Buckminster Fuller Challenge (Buckminster Fuller Institute Socially-Responsible Design's Award) and also analysed within the framework of two European Research Projects (ERA-NET CIRCLE-2) it is been considered as an inspiring local scale effective strategy for adapting to climate change. The most well known measure applied within the framework of this practice (the construction of rainwater retention spaces in the form of decentralized lakes and ponds (interconnected permanent artificial lakes and ponds designed to retaining rainwater not sealed with concrete/plastic material and with a natural material dam) is becoming increasingly studied due to its replicability potential. Success factor(s) Success factor type Success factor role Comments Specific incentives for stakeholder involvement main factor Public participation secondary factor Financing Financing type Comments Other Activities are financed through donations and grants, by guests and the revenue from seminars, and from the Book Shop. The purchase of Tamera’s land and the initial investment were partially finance with loans Barrier Barrier type Barrier role Comments Lacking financing sources main barrier Activities are financed through donations and grants, by guests and the revenue from seminars and from the Book Shop. Attitude of the public secondary barrier They seek to receive a more prominent exposure in the Portuguese public. Driver Driver type Driver role Comments Organisation committed to it main driver Strong commitment with “changing” subsistence and regional autonomy, in regard to infrastructure, new forms of water management and cooperation with nature Financing share Financing share type Share Comments Policy, general governance and design targets Policy description The ecovillage of Tamera (“Tamera Healing Biotope 1”), founded in 1995, is a community of 190 permanent residents (and 120 non-permanent inhabitants in 2012) living in a property of 133 ha located in the South of Portugal (Monte do Cerro, municipality of Odemira). Main problems affecting the area where Tamera is located are: deteriorated soils (washed fertile topsoil layers, damaged structure, erosion and desertification) due to pressures put in the past (such overgrazing and unsuitable agricultural practices) and water quantity issues (heavy rainfalls causing flooding and, on the other side, water scarcity and droughts). The application designed and implemented consists of the creation of “Water Retention Landscapes” (i.e. “systems for the restoration of the full water cycle by retaining the water in the areas where it falls as rain” -Ulbig, 2014-) covering 5 areas (water, forest, gardens, seeds and pasture management). Measures implemented were: reforestation and the planting of mixed-culture ground cover vegetation; holistic grazing management; keyline design; terracing; swales; and the mos well-know measure, the construction of water retention spaces in the form of decentralized lakes and ponds (interconnected permanent artificial lakes and ponds designed to retaining rainwater not sealed with concrete/plastic material and with a natural material dam with slope 1:2 as a barrier). Policy target Target purpose Increase Water Storage Runoff control Groundwater Recharge Improved Biodiversity Oher Societal Benefits Policy pressure Pressure directive Relevant pressure Policy area Policy area type Policy area focus Name Comments Policy impact Impact directive Relevant impact Policy wider plan Wider plan type Wider plan focus Name Comments Policy requirement directive Requirement directive Specification Socio-economic Direct benefits information Slow rainwater runoff Enhance biodiversity (habitat and biodiversity conservation) Increasing water storage capacity (recover the groundwater table) Agricultural productivity increase (local food production autonomy and effects in terms of economic growth in the community) Ancillary benefits information Social benefits as recreational services and amenity and clean water for different uses (for drinking and for irrigation). Ecosystem functions that provide co-benefits as in the case of storing and fixing carbon and serving as wildlife habitats and ecological corridors. Increasing water storage capacity reduce dowstream flooding events. Contributes to prevent rural depopulation. Contributes to control desertification process in the area Contributes to the development of a alternate model Costs total 500000 Costs total information Only for the creation of the water retentation lakes: more than 500000€ (Source: Pijnappels and Dietl, 2013) Ecosystem improved biodiversity 1 Information on Ecosystem improved biodiversity More than 10.000 planted trees: areas afforested with a wide diversity of species and fruit tree plantations. Forest corridors are useful as protected paths for wild animals (e.g. boars, badgers, foxes, genets and forest owl) to reach the lakes and ponds. Ecosystem provisioning services 1 Information on Ecosystem provisioning services Contribution to the regional food autonomy (objective of the project: 80% regional food autonomy) as progressively more vegetables and fruits consumed by the community are grown in their own gardens, on the terraces and at the shores of the water retention spaces. Ecosystem water supply 1 Information on Ecosystem water supply Since 2011 drinking water needs of the community of are supplied from wells fed by the Water Retention Landscape (190 permanent residents and 120 non-permanent inhabitants in 2012. Ecosystem impact climate regulation Impact on GHGs (net emissions and storage) including soil carbon Information on Ecosystem impact climate regulation Increase CO2 stored due to the forest and soil restauration measures Biophysical impacts Information on retained water N/A volume of water retained but created water retention spaces were able to substantially contribute to supply water demands of the community (for different uses: domestic, irrigation and recreational) Information on increased water storage By means of the construction of water retention spaces (lakes and ponds) water storage capacity is enhanced. Information on runoff reduction Measures implemented within the framework of the Water Retention Landscape (reforestation and mixed-culture ground cover vegetation; holistic grazing management; keyline design; terracing; swales; and the mos well-know measure, the construction of water retention spaces in the form of decentralized lakes and pond) were designed for this purpose. Ecosystem erosion control 1 Information on Ecosystem erosion control Due to the implemented refforestation measures Water quality overall improvements Positive impact-WQ improvement Information on Water quality overall improvements Design principles applied to the water retention spaces contribute to improve water quality (winding banks, different bed depths…) by enhancing self-purification processes. Soil quality overall soil improvements Positive impact-SQ improvement Information on Soil quality overall soil improvements By means of topsoil creation, soil quality is enhanced in general terms. 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