Since March 2021, the Carbon Connects project has been operating a new pilot site, located in the Cotentin and Bessin Regional Wildlife Park in Normandy.
The Chamber of Agriculture of Normandy has recently joined AC3A and the Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire to contribute to the activities of the Carbon Connects project. It is providing the project with a new pilot site of 30,000 ha of wet grassland, including 8,000 ha in peatland. Located in the Cotentin and Bessin Regional Wildlife Park, the site is classified Natura 2000 and RAMSAR.
Today, the traditional extensive farming activity of mowing and grazing in this site still allows the maintenance of these vast wet meadows with varying degrees of peat, which are the source of an exceptional concentration of rare animal and plant communities throughout the seasons.
The marsh is used by nearly 1000 farmers, with grazing and mowing activities on mainly dairy farms. It is also subject to water level management and is also marked by hunting and touristic discovery activities.
For Catherine BAUSSON, head of the livestock project at the Normandy Chamber of Agriculture, “the most important challenge on this site is to preserve the ecological diversity of the wetlands, which depend on the maintenance of water levels and extensive sustainable agriculture.”
The pilot site will contribute to the project by providing knowledge on carbon storage, technical and economic data related to agricultural practices, and by conducting, with the help of the site’s farmers, a reflection on public and private agro-environmental policies to support these peatland environments.
