HZF & Arrifana Portugal’s southwestern coast harbors one of the country’s most recognized National Parks (Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina) and a protected marine area off the coast of Arrifana. Yet, this pristine and natural environment is threatened by massified tourism, as well as a lack of diversification for local communities to develop and grow economically.

Hope Zones Foundation founders João Macedo and Moritz Siedel initiated their path to create the Hope Zones movement by being part of a successful campaign to defeat a multi-platform oil rig concession, a few kilometers off the Arrifana coast – this was a key moment that demonstrated the threats to this area were fought by a strong local community that was and still is in place to keep these kinds of projects and this form of economic development away from this beautiful part of the world. This inspired our vision of the importance of communication in defeating negative, government-sponsored projects but also that Hope Zones will exist and thrive in well-functioning marine protected areas, meaning areas of positive influence covering both land and sea.