Tamera, Portugal
Founded in 1995 | Area: 134 ha | Residents: 160

The German project founded by Dieter Duhm, Sabine Lichtenfels and Rainer Ehrenpreis in 1974 took a new shape as Tamera in Alentejo, a Portuguese region deeply affected by desertification and land abandonment. While turning the dusty landscape into a sublime oasis, Tamera became a leading international site for the development of sustainable models to be applied in crisis areas as a way to empower local communities.

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Vera, an educational coordinator, during a fund-raising bazaar that will enable citizens from crisis areas to attend Tamera's peace courses 'Art is a draft for the life we dream of' (Dieter Duhm). Art plays a very important role in Tamera's vision for a new peace culture A sacred meeting place the children built with the help of one of their parents A solar pump, a device developed in the Solar Village test field as part of their research on decentralized energy systems Most members still live in campers and trailers. The community is applying for permission to build new living facilities Every morning Uta and Siran collect wild herbs to be used for cooking and for a variety of therapeutic treatments Every Monday the community gathers at sunrise for group meditation in a stone circle made of more than sixty monoliths The land's natural contours were used for creating lakes that collect rain water and revitalize the dry and damaged landscape On Sunday mornings the community gathers for a weekly meeting Brunch time in the Solar Village test field, a prototype of decentralized energy systems developed by Jurgen Kleinwachter A common sleeping room in The Children's Place, shared by children whose parents also live in the facilities New candidates are advised to spend some time between normal life and community life, to see if their wish has a strong foundation A view over the offices of the Institute for Global Peacework, headquarters of a network that supports peace initiatives around the world The stone circle during the inaugural ceremony of the Global Ecovillage Network annual conference Tamera's artists created an area with outdoors and indoors facilities for artistic production, open for all the community to use Adam came from America to participate in one of Tamera's Global Campus courses and stayed a few weeks longer working as a volunteer