The Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape

Upland farming and herding have shaped the Causses and the Cévennes in south-central France for about three thousand years. In the Bronze Age large areas of forest were cleared for sheep and cattle pasture.

From the 12th to the 14th century monastic orders controlled the area and built irrigation and roads. Benedictine abbeys devised systems that carry mountain runoff to stone terraces, and the roof cisterns, ponds and granaries of the Knights Templar still work. About 300 km of 12th-century droving roads, the drailles, lie within the site, and on Mont Lozère summer transhumance still follows them.

From the 16th to the 18th century the Cévennes became known for chestnuts, sheep and silk, and a growing population built large farmhouses. Silkworm disease and the First World War sent people away to the cities. The Cévennes National Park was created in September 1970, and about 300,000 hectares were inscribed in 2011, though no more than 100 farmers keep the agro-pastoral system going.