Today one third of the global CO2 emissions are caused by drained and/or burned peatlands for agricultural use. Peatlands contain a high concentration of organic matter and stock twice as much carbon as forests. Europe has 265km2 of diverse peatlands, which, if they dry out, will go from being a great sink for carbon, to a huge emitter.
Carbon Connects promotes an alternative type of agriculture for wetlands, one which can sequester carbon through practices such as: raising the water table beneath the peatland and starting new types of crops or livestock farming. It will also introduce new bio-based business models developed for sustainable land management practices. They will be tested on pilot sites throughout North West Europe. AC3A is in charge of Work Package 2 Transnational implementation and demonstration which includes the monitoring of the pilot sites and the setting up of a transnational programme “Farmer-to-Farmer”. One of the sites is in Pays de la Loire – the Grand Lieu site and this is coordinated by the Regional Chamber of Pays de la Loire. There are two pilot sites in France, the first in Pays de la Loire, coordinated by the Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire, and the second in Normandy, coordinated by the Chamber of Agriculture of Normandy, in Cotentin and Bessin Regional Parc.
Presentation of the pilot sites and the porgress made by each one. Farmer-2-Farmer programme. Carbon Connects will aim at reducing the carbon footprint of peatland soils by introducing new models of bioeconomies developed for sustainable land management practices.
Carbon Connects is funded (60%) by INTERREG Europe du Nord-Ouest
The Carbon Connects project partners have won the second Interreg NWE “capitalisation” call for projects. This means an extension in terms of budget and duration – the project will now run until December 2023, the new activities will enable the partners to maximise the impact of the project. Further information.