France

Key theme

Involving young people and communities in management of peatlands.

Pilot project lead body

Centre Ouest Bretagne LEADER+

Agency and other group partners

FNPHFS, Association de Mise en Valeur de Lan Bern et Magoar – AMV, Cicindèle

Overview of French peatlands

Peatlands have been used as a source of fuel in France for a very long time. There are historical records from the Middle Ages, but peat extraction probably began long before. Artois, Flandres and Picardie in the north and Bière and Normandy in the west were the principal areas of peat digging in France.

It has been estimated that in 1892, the peak period of French peat extraction, about 40,000ha of peatlands were used. The peat had particular importance in areas where wood was scarce. Families would be given rights to extract peat from a particular section of bog. Some peat was also sent to densely populated areas. Peat extraction stopped at the beginning of the 20th century when coal and gas became widely available as fuels. Most former areas of peat extraction have been drained and transformed into farmland.

Brittany is the location of all French work in the LEADER+ 'Connecting People With Our Peatland Heritage' project. Here, most of the peatlands are located in the centre of the region, in the “monts d'Arrée” and the “montagnes Noires”. Peatbogs and peatland cover about 6,000 hectares in Brittany, three-quarters of which is in the Finistère Department.

In addition to their use for fuel, Breton peatlands were also traditionally used by farmers, who grazed livestock or cut cattle bedding there. Surviving French peatlands are often small and fragmented. These small areas, though of little economic value in the past, can now be treasured as local refuges for wildlife. France has a wealth of groups, including conservation bodies, hunters' organizations and community associations, which can provide input at local level to projects.

French peatland sites involved in the LEADER+ project

All the sites in the 'Connecting People with our Peatland Heritage' project are in the Côtes d'Armor Department, at Magoar-Penvern and Kéroncel - Locarn