Southern Portugal is threatened by progressive desertification. Forest fires, summer droughts and the loss of biodiversity are symptoms of widespread degradation of valuable land. The vegetation is threatened: native flora such as Cork oaks and pine trees die in large numbers because the soil, drained by excessive grazing and poor agricultural practices, has lost its capacity to retain water. Erosion washes away fertile soil and what’s left dries up. Simultaneously there is flooding and water damage due to strong winter rainfalls. All of this damage reflects a global reality that can be explained by a particular problem: incorrect land and water management caused by industrial agriculture, animal farming, over-grazing, monoculture forestry and deforestation. Portugal´s average rainfall is similar to that of central Europe — yet the desert seems to grow right before our eyes.

However, the detrimental and existentially-threatening nature of the traditional model of industrial agriculture is not without resolution. The ecological initiatives that members of the Tamera ecovillage have been endorsing, as well as developing, to regenerate this eroded landscape are noteworthy examples of some of the solutions that already exist.

Water Retention Landscapes to Counteract Desertification

“Water Retention Landscapes are the healing impulse urgently required by the Earth and all her creatures. They can and must arise in every place where people regain the courage, strength and also of course, the knowledge needed to create them. (…) We must not get accustomed to a state where something that is actually self-evident appears to us as an unrealistic utopia. A world in which all people have free access to sufficient water, energy and food is completely feasible.”

-       Bernd Mueller

Nowadays water is dammed, deviated, privatized and turned into a commodity. One billion people on the planet are without access to clean drinking water, while others are appropriating it solely for-profit motives. Natural water cycles are broken all over the world. Rainwater can’t infiltrate into the ground due to soil erosion and mismanagement of vegetation. This is mainly caused by industrial agricultural practices and widespread surface sealing in urban areas. Rainwater runoff deprives ecosystems of necessary water, steadily drying them out.

However, water is life. Water is information. If the large water cycle of a landscape is intact, then the land, nature and the people can flourish. This is, if the principles of natural water management are understood and implemented, not only can an abundance of water and food become available for all people on Earth, as can we also help to restore the stability of our global climate. As such, to reverse this situation, the first step is to implement water retention measures which allow rainwater to infiltrate into the Earth body – a measure that leads to an increase in vegetation and restoration of our valuable topsoil. Natural water cycles are the prerequisite for restoring intact ecosystems, and thus for developing regenerative agricultural systems.

It is in alignment to this vision that Tamera has been working on something they’ve been calling ‘Water Retention Landscapes’ (WRL). This is a permaculture-based horticultural strategy of ecological land management and food production that increases rainwater infiltration and the recharging of depleted aquifers. WRL include the building of water retention systems such as lakes, terraces and swales, which collect and decelerate rain water fall, so it can be properly absorbed by the land. The rain which falls on the land is taken up by the vegetation or the water-bodies and recharges the groundwater. The retention areas act in place of the fragile humus layer and, through their high water-absorbing capacity, they help prevent fatal landslides and floods, which nowadays increasingly result from intense rainfall.

Through the implementation of this system, Tamera has successfully worked on ecosystem restoration, through counteracting land erosion by decreasing water run-off. The water that is infiltrated is stored it in the soil, subsoil and deeper layers of the Earth body, thereby recharging aquifers and making the water available for the local environment. They’ve loosened the soil deeply, which, facilitated by their use of natural farming techniques have helped further regenerate it and allowed for abundant re-vegetation of watersheds. According to researcher Ana Margarida Esteves, Tamera’s fascinating work has allowed for the return of wild animals such as boars, badgers, foxes, genets, forest owls, and many other birds to the area.

Tamera’s Water & Food ‘Healing Biotopes’

Tamera’s research on regenerative water and food systems has been guided by their intention to facilitate system change from a paradigm based on exploitation to one established by relationships of cooperation. In response to the ecological catastrophes unfolding both at a local, as well as on a planetary scale, the Tamera community is restoring ecosystems following the so-called ‘New Water Paradigm’ – this is, by the adoption of practices such as Water Retention Landscapes, as well as regenerative agricultural practices such as seed saving, all of which envision the reforestation of degenerated land for achievement of food sovereignty and transversal community and planetary health. Their intention is to research on “how to collaborate with all beings of nature, restoring the sacred alliance of all life.” One of their principles is to share the knowledge they gather with the world, as to participate in the promotion of a global action plan for climate restoration and build a network of partners that can help each other advance this regenerative agenda. This is what we aim to do as well: to share with you their incredible findings and resulting technological innovations, to inspire you into mobilizing towards system change!

Who is Tamera?

Established in 1995 in the most arid region of Portugal, the Alentejo, Tamera is a community made up of about 200 people who are working towards integrating autonomous, decentralized ways of life for a post-capitalist world. Founded on principles of economic self-sufficiency, as well as collaborative and participatory systems of governance, Tamera envisions itself as a model for sustainable human settlements. Their mission is to empower people around the world to build a new, planetary culture through research on the ethical, social, sexual, ecological, technological and economic foundations of what a nonviolent, regenerative culture looks like. They do so by building so-called “Healing Biotopes”; these are, habitats wherein all life forms – humans, animals, plants, waters and other beings – can co-exist in united diversity. Their Healing Biotopes are experimental research and learning centers that model a new culture where both the world that has created us and the world that we are creating, come together. Accordingly, they establish a social, ecological and economic framework that can conceive a relationship of harmony between humanity and the natural world. Ultimately, a Healing Biotope synthesizes different solutions in all areas of human life to create a coherent system where all beings can live in full cooperation and unreserved trust. One of the research areas the Healing Biotope Plan has been putting most attention into is how we can develop regenerative decentralized autonomy in water and food, in ways that are cooperative with animals and all beings and help to restore nature at large.

According to data collected by Birger Bumb, coordinator of purchases from Tamera’s regional food autonomy network, Tamera is developing their agricultural strategies in a way that, in the next decade, the percentage of food consumed within this vegan community that is produced on its grounds shall reach 80%. Their water retention landscape systems have allowed for Tamera and their partners to become increasingly autonomous from globalized food chains, as well as truly crucial actors in the reforestation and regeneration of the Southern Portuguese landscape. The decentralization of their systems of sustenance have potential to turn this ecovillage into a truly resilient community and are a brilliant example of what grassroots system change can look like. The practices and tools they have come up with are significant not only for this particular local reality, but a system that can be applied at a global scale for we all face the tenuous consequences of a badly managed agricultural sector. Find out more about the incredible work that is done by Tamera, as well as how you can engage with them, here.

Article by Helena Leonardo

Helena is a freelance educator and writer, trained in the fields of sociology and cultural studies. Her current mission is to take part in the advancement of the regenerative development paradigm through theoretical, empirical and active investigation and participation on the transformational potential of intersectional ecofeminism, community-building and the ecovillage movement.

Primal Gathering is an environmentally, socially, and psychologically regenerative gathering empowering people with skills to be self-sustainable in their day-to-day lives. Our mission is to restore people, forests, and ecosystems all over the world. Leaving both people and places better than how we find them. Join us at the next Reforestation Gathering here or sign up and receive more content like this in a monthly newsletter here