Water retention spaces, reforestation and grazing management in southern Portugal

NWRM

Application scale

Field Scale

Installation date

2007

Age

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

No data

Design consultation activity

No data

Design land use change

No data

Design authority

Authority type	Role	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.

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	About to sign a contract between Tamera and the Municipality

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

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

No data

Policy area

No data

Policy impact

No data

Policy wider plan

No data

Policy requirement directive

No data

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

NUTS Code

Alentejo

RBD code

PTRH6

Transboundary

Longitude

-8.51583333333

Latitude

37.715

EEA core metadata

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