Parc naturel regional Corbieres Fenouilledes

The parc naturel regional Corbieres Fenouilledes project is an ambitious plan to sustainably developed the Hautes Corbieres.The Hautes Corbieres is one of the poorest parts of the Aude Department, itself the 8th poorest Department in métropolitain France.

The President Emmaneil Marcon recently announced the Governments support for the the Parc naturel regional Corbieres Fenouilledes. To find out more about this project I decided to download the Charter that was published in February which outlines the ideas and work of the syndicate which will run the project. I have not been involved in the consultations that have been going on for the last three years between the project team, the local politicians; associations and citizens, but many people I know have put a lot of work into this project.

cartographie – Projet de Parc naturel régional Corbières-Fenouillèdes

The projected Parc naturel regional Corbieres Fenouilledes is a massive project that links the Hautes Corbieres from Aude river valley, down to the hills overlooking the coast, from vine covered plains of the Corbieres over into the Pyrenees Oriental and across the valley of the Agly. It takes in the grand royal castles that were built to guard the borders of Occitania from the Kingdom of Aragon, Queribus, Puilaurens, Termes, Aguilar and  Peyrepertuse. It covers some of the most beautiful landscape of Southern France. The density of the human population of the area is one of the lowest in Southern France. As is the economic activity of the area. If it wasn’t for public sector subsidies the area would be deserted.

This document, a mere 268 pages, does take a bit of perseverance to get through. It has been written by a group of  civil servant to be consumed by civil servants, and elected politicians with time on their hands. It is incredibly repetitive but well illustrated with maps and diagrams. If you ever wondered what happens to your tax money here is a perfect example of how hundreds of hours of meetings and discussions get condensed and justified.

In brief I will try and sum up the main themes and ideas behind the Parc naturel regional de Corbieres Fenouilledes.

There are four major themes to the project. They give them all fancy names full of civil service buzz words but essentially they can be summed up as follows.

Conservation and protection of the environment, a series of ambitious plans to protect the birds and biodiversity, Work on a coherent public private sector plans for the area’s forests. This one could prove a little difficult given the governments determination to slash the Forestry Office (ONF) and farm it all out to the private sector. One thing that did jump out at me was the claim that the High Corbieres environment is little touched by human hands where as in reality the environment we see today is actually the product of human activity and post war economic decline.

Develop renewable energy. Otherwise known as stop the large wind turbines by saying we are going to build loads of small projects, then do very little because there is no government money available and the feed in schemes for renewable energy have been cut; Extend the insulation of private and public buildings, replace old ineffective wood burners, install photo thermique panels. Cut down on street lighting and light pollution. All but the last bit are really existing projects brought together to make it sound something new.

Sustainable Development. Work to develop small scale mixed agriculture, particularly grazing flocks and herds, Develop artisanal and artistic entreprises, Work out urban development plans that work with the countryside, that means really stop private housing estates and try and develop the ruined houses in villages. Protect the skylines and views. See above about stopping wind turbines. Also there is ideas around stopping unlicensed road side advertising. Much of the work on economic and agricultural development is again re packaging of the existing national and regional schemes already in place and developed by the Chambre d’Agriculture and the Confederation Paysanne’s ADEAR structure. The closer involvement of local communes however is to be welcomed.

Tourism. Get UNESCO status for the royal chateaux’s while pushing the historically inaccurate idea of the Cathars. Develop the tourist infrastructure, hotels, camping, restos. Extend the walking, cycling, horse riding possibilities. Pretend that this will not lead to more cars, coaches and camper vans. Cut down on uncontrolled advertising along the roads; again. Much of this work is already in hand by either the state or voluntary associations but it would be good to see it better co-ordinated, and with a bit more funding behind it.

The above summary is short hand to say the least and does not even start to cover the hundreds of ideas that have been brought together. Some of the ones I really liked was the collecting of old folks memories of what was grown where, how it was grown and then how we can reproduce similar projects today. The working closely with scientists and researchers to document the full rang of flora and fauna in the Parc, I like and on the development of public services and the education sector.

A lot of the projects that are proposed here are already happening on one form or another. There is already aid and support for young would be farmers, there is aid for renewable energy projects, support for rural medical care etc. But by drawing these projects together the parc charter can give them some sense of cohesion and direction

However for all the hard work it is worth while remembering that not one word of it is actually binding, a local commune, the Department, the Region or the national government can do whatever they want without recourse. Hence you get the development of a bitumen plant right in the heart of the Corbieres Maritime natural park.

The ideas behind the Corbieres Fenouilledes project are huge, how they will actually develop and what they will mean will depend on a whole range of factors, from local politicians motivation, the level of citizens involved, and last but not least budget. The budget for the Corbieres Maritime parc for example is 6.1 million euros. With a staff of 30, offices, transport, per diem and transport costs for the mixed syndicate that manages it; it is hard to work out what of that is actually spent doing things rather than talking about doing things.

The idea that at last there might be some coherent planning for the future of the high Corbieres is very encouraging. The fact that it is mired in conservationist nimbyism amidst the great ideas for sustainable development less so. The idea that the area can generate 80% of it”s energy use by 2050 based on small scale renewable energy is clearly a load of green washing  tosh to hide the fact they want to block larger scale renewable projects. What is clear is that the politicians will collect their per diems and their travel expenses, A lots of paper work will be generated and hopefully some of the better ideas will see the light of day.

If you are confined and bored here is the link to download the charter https://projet.corbieres-fenouilledes.fr/IMG/pdf/charte_pnr_corbieres-fev.2020.pdf