Tamera

Tamera is an international Peace Research and Education Centre founded in 1995 and situated on a rural estate in Monte do Cerro, Odemira, in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal. With a resident community of over 160 people — including adults, children, and young people — Tamera is one of Europe's largest self-sustaining intentional communities. At its core, Tamera operates as a living laboratory for what it calls a 'Healing Biotope': a model settlement that researches and demonstrates the ethical, social, ecological, technological, and economic foundations of a peaceful, nonviolent culture. This vision is articulated through the 'Healing Biotopes Plan' and guided by the concept of 'Terra Nova' — a planetary culture of autonomous and interconnected communities. Tamera's work is organised around several research areas: the healing of love and sexuality, community building, children and youth education, spirituality, art and healing, ecology, cooperation with nature, and decentralised energy autonomy. The community practises communitarian ownership as a not-for-profit social enterprise and is guided by communitarian ethics designed to foster deep trust among members. The centre's education programme — known as Peace Education — offers both on-site and online courses to a global audience of change-makers. These include introductory weeks, seminars on water management, community building, self-discovery, and decolonisation, as well as specialised programmes such as the Global Love School. Tamera is also active in water landscape restoration, having pioneered rainwater retention techniques in the Alentejo, and engages in outreach work across Europe and beyond. The site features its own campus, buildings, water and energy infrastructure, and a medical centre, with plans to expand into a fully regenerative model settlement.