Water purification, habitat and flood prevention in the Odet Watershed in Brittany in France
The Odet watershed is a territory of 724 km², representing 2.64% of the size of the Brittany region. The territory presents a density of 174 inhabitants per km², with about 127,000 inhabitants in total in 2014. The watershed is constituted of 27 municipalities. The main city of the watershed is Quimper, the third largest city of Brittany, famous for its cathedral overhanging the Odet coastal river and its half-timbered houses. Half of the inhabitants of the watershed lives in Quimper. Eight watercourses cross the watershed. They all group within the Odet coastal river. In particular, three of the tributaries of the Odet (namely the Steïr, the Frout and the Jet) group within the Quimper boundaries, leading to regular flooding events. Agriculture still represents an important economic activity of the watershed.
The hydric soil characteristics of agricultural wetlands provide a distinct ecosystem from other land types. Wetlands support the provision of many ecosystem services, principally water purification, flood control and carbon sink. Despite the existence of various international agreements and national policies (notably specific Agri-Environmental Measures), wetlands have been lost or are threatened. These threats are linked to the lack of agricultural profitability of these areas but also to changing legislations. The uncertainties around the legislation frame coupled to the potential high penalties and the opportunity costs has incited some farmers to sell or abandon their wetlands. The proposed payments in the existing Agri-Environmental Measures (AEM) do not provide enough incentive for farmers, especially for high capital-intensive farms. Higher payments would lead to decrease of abandonment.
Our aim was to value several public goods provided jointly by the agricultural management of wetlands. We selected five public goods namely water filtration, flood resilience, suitable fishing conditions, carbon sequestration and habitat for biodiversity. Read more…
Today, the current AEM proposed to the farmers do not prevent high abandonment. Local stakeholder has stressed the need to improve the system governance in order to maintain farmers on wetlands. Read more…
Stakeholder Portal
Stakeholder Portal
Here you find outcomes of the participatory workshops and material in national language.
Contact for case study region
- Pierre Dupraz & Francois Bareille
Siège social Agrocampus Quest
65 rue de Saint-Brieuc
CS 84215
35 042 Rennes Cedex / France pierre.dupraz@inra.fr
francois.bareille@inra.frContributors:
Eco Development Avignon: www6.paca.inra.fr/ecodeveloppement/Presentation-Ecodeveloppe
Laboratoire de Recherches sur le Développement de l'Elevage: www.corte.inra.fr/lrde2/index.php