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Affouage as an Element of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Recognition of the Value of Mountain Knowledge and Practices to the Green Transition

Julia Ambrosio, Clara Baquedano, Jean-François Joye et Sarah Ludwig
Cet article est une traduction de :
L’affouage, patrimoine culturel immatériel [fr]

Résumé

Affouage is a French ancestral practice of felling wood for domestic use that is primarily found in mountain areas thanks to the survival of collective use rights associated with land commons. In 2025 it was added to the French National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) as defined by UNESCO. The supporting submission highlighted the benefits of affouage for local communities, their living territory and the environment. Much more than just a simple logging operation, affouage is a vector of social cohesion. Its inclusion in the ICH inventory provides an opportunity to highlight not only the little known heritage and local knowledge of mountain areas, but also the system of collective land ownership that generates and perpetuates their cultural specificities, and which local communities are fighting to protect.

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Photo – Affouage logs stacked in the forest of the section de commune of Cheylard-l’Évêque (Lozère)

Photo – Affouage logs stacked in the forest of the section de commune of Cheylard-l’Évêque (Lozère)

Alain Levet, 2024

  • 1 The VALCOM (‘Valoriser les Communs fonciers’) research partnership is supported by the University o (...)
  • 2 The ICH Affouage inventory form provides details of the survey areas (Lozère, Haute-Loire, Ain, Hau (...)
  • 3 The French Law no. 2016-925 of July 7, 2016 concerning the freedom of creation, architecture and he (...)

1Based on its awareness of both the social and environmental value of affouage, and the attachment of local communities to it, the VALCOM research partnership1 supported a submission that in June 2025 led to the inclusion of this practice in France’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). The purpose of this article is to expand on and contextualise the work that led to this inclusion in the inventory by the French Ministry of Culture. We would therefore advise readers to refer to the ‘Affouage’ inventory form (technical report) for supplementary information regarding both the substance of the practice and the survey methods used.2 The French National Inventory of ICH was created in 2016.3 The procedure for submitting an element for inclusion on the list has been established by France’s somewhat late application of the 2003 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (hereinafter the ‘UNESCO’ Convention). Article 2 of this Convention defines ‘intangible cultural heritage’ as ‘the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage’. This ICH, ‘transmitted from generation to generation’, provides communities with ‘a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.’ In practice, the concept of ICH encompasses not only intangible elements (such as knowledge, skills and stories), but also the material goods related to them (such as buildings, functional or symbolic objects and natural elements). This article begins by looking at what the practice of affouage consists of, and its various dimensions. We then consider what it represents, particularly for people living in mountain areas, and highlight the political stakes underpinning the recognition of this rural living heritage tied to collective landholdings that remain in danger of disappearing. We conclude by discussing how the success of the ICH submission is prompting multiple initiatives in rural areas to safeguard this heritage.

Affouage: a Multidimensional Practice

  • 4 A commune is the smallest administrative division in France, roughly equivalent to a civil parish i (...)
  • 5 The equivalent term in English is ‘estovers’ or the ‘common of estovers’, defined as ‘a liberty of (...)
  • 6 From the Late Latin affoagium and affocare meaning ‘to put in the foyer’, from ad (to) and focus (m (...)
  • 7 On the history of affouage, see the ICH inventory form and its bibliography, in particular the work (...)
  • 8 Jean-François Joye, ‘L’affouage en section de commune. Une demande sociale à satisfaire’, AJDA, 3 ( (...)
  • 9 Wood belonging to others: sections de commune, communes, the state (although this is now rare) or p (...)
  • 10 Article 542 of the French Code Civil defines biens communaux as ‘that to whose ownership or yield t (...)
  • 11 Article L. 2411-1, Section I of the General Local Authorities Code (CGCT) defines a section de comm (...)
  • 12 For a diachronic overview see Jean-François Joye, ed., Les « communaux » au 21e siècle. Une proprié (...)
  • 13 Affouage does, however, take place in wooded areas outside mountain areas, notably in the communal (...)
  • 14 Alessandro Crosetti, and Jean-François Joye, eds., ‘Mountains and the Collective Management of the (...)

2Affouage is defined in French as the ‘right to take from a forest the quantity of wood needed for fuel for heating, or distribution between inhabitants of a commune4 of the wood that they own in common’ (Le Littré).5 The term itself is derived from Latin,6 and refers to the idea of putting something in the foyer, here referring to both the hearth and the household. The origins of this community practice date back to the Middle Ages, when families obtained from the local seigneur (lord) the right to collect wood from his lands for their personal consumption.7 Today, the practice of affouage continues to allow families to obtain firewood or timber for their annual consumption from local renewable resources (Joye, 2025).8 It is practiced in forests in which the beneficiaries of the felled wood, or affouagistes, have collective ‘use rights’ (‘droits d’usage collectifs’); either based on local custom, or by virtue of ancient titles granting them the enjoyment of these rights, even if they do not own the forests in question.9 The land commons concerned was formerly known in France as communaux, and now encompasses both biens communaux10 and biens sectionaux, the latter referring to land held by sections de commune.11 Despite a rocky history,12 these types of collective landholdings have been passed down through the centuries and are still often found in mountain regions today.13 This is partly because affouage, like other collective use rights, has largely survived within social groups that are less subject than others to centralised administrative entities, which favours self-organised communities. It also stems from the fact that collective forms of ownership and management methods were – and still are – an effective response to the challenging living conditions associated with altitude, climate and the specific characteristics of pastoral and forest economies.14 They preserve the appeal of mountain regions for humans, while protecting environmental resources for the future (such as the need to source fuel for heating from local resources, and long-term collective strategies for forest management and regeneration).

3In addition to forests subject to use rights, affouage is also practiced in certain forests owned by communes where the inhabitants do not have collective use rights. Although it also allows local people to harvest wood for domestic purposes, this differs slightly from the historical definition of affouage, since they are unable to claim the right to practice affouage.

  • 15 In particular, ONF officials determine the area to be logged.
  • 16 Articles L. 243-1 to L. 243-4, R. 243-1 et seq.

4It should be noted that in woods and forests subject to the French forestry regime (régime forestier, a regulatory framework imposed by national law), forestry operations (including logging), and therefore the organisation of affouage, are managed by the French National Forestry Office (Office National des Forêts, ONF).15 This includes the forests owned by communes and sections de commune, for which the decision to implement the practice is made by the municipal council under the provisions of the Forestry Code.16 Elsewhere, the practice of affouage is not subject to the provisions of the Forestry Code, and the ONF does not interfere with the practice of felling wood for domestic use, except upon specific request and agreement.

  • 17 French Forestry Code, Articles L. 243-1 and L. 241-16.

5Affouage has collaborative benefits since the preparatory and subsequent stages are carried out as a team, following set procedures that may vary across the French regions that actively practice it (Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes). As such, it promotes the maintenance and development of social ties. In forests subject to the forestry regime, in which wood is harvested directly by beneficiaries, the municipal council also appoints jointly liable guarantors to manage the logging.17 The main stages of the process are as follows:

  • Preparatory stage: a list is drawn up of affouagistes who confirm whether they will take a ‘lot’ of wood that year. The choice of cuts is made per person or per ‘fire’ (foyer, i.e. household). The plot of land on which the logging will take place is identified, based on the number of lots to be assigned and the volume that can be logged on the plot in question.

  • Martelage: this consists of ‘marking’ the trees for logging using a forestry hammer.

  • Allotissement: the logging is divided into lots that will be drawn at random. Each beneficiary receives a number of cubic metres of wood. In some cases, there are two successive draws: firstly of the affouagistes, then of the lots.

  • La coupe or logging, followed by the removal of the wood, then the restoration of the site. All affouagistes are required to participate in this step, sometimes with third-party help. The wood is assigned in various ways: either the tree is in its entirety ready to fell, already felled to the ground, or already prepared and cut into pieces. The allocated period for felling the assigned wood is often two years.

6In addition to this technical and legal framework, the practice of affouage is also governed by an empowering and sensory framework. Firstly, the system of affouage is not simply about holding rights in relation to a forest in order to obtain wood from it, but also involves fulfilling duties towards the community of rights holders, and towards society more broadly. This ensures the sustainability of forest resources. In practice, the wood logged by affouage helps to prevent the development of wastelands and forest fires, maintain access to the landscape, and preserve biodiversity. It also empowers communities by giving them a way to pass on various skills and knowledge from one generation to another, such as knowledge of forest management and the use of forestry tools. Secondly, affouage strengthens the attachment of local communities to the forests, which they maintain and care for in order to pass them on in good condition to future generations.

Representations of Affouage among Local Communities

  • 18 Survey conducted from March 2019 to May 2025 in France and northern Italy.

7The representations and various functions of affouage are made apparent by observations of and discussions with affouagistes, for example in the context of visits by researchers from the VALCOM research partnership to mountain forest sites (a project that began in 2019) or the specific work carried out to collectively draw up the ICH inventory form with local volunteers. Taking the time to observe and speak to those who still practice affouage reminds us how, as surviving ancestral customs, certain practices continue to form an integral thread of the living fabric of a territory. The letters of consent and support included as part of the submission to include the practice in the National Inventory of ICH often reveal the emotion that affouagistes express when they speak of their relationship to the forest through the description of affouage.18 A number of extracts from these letters are provided below. This goes beyond the local setting or beyond any economic, legal or administrative ideas. It conveys a collective memory that is not – or only rarely – written down, but is instead felled, split, and burned, like the trees themselves. The cut logs and hardened sap all bear the mark of past winters, and of practices that have survived for centuries. Together, the affouagistes enter the forest as a kind of homecoming. Affouage can be seen not only in the context of local traditions and customs, but also as a way of inhabiting and being present in the world, in one’s territory. It represents a way to bring local people together and to reconnect with forms of intergenerational solidarity.

Identity, Memory and Social Ties over Time

8Harvesting one’s own wood engages both hand and memory, reconnecting with a sensory relationship to the forest and to one’s own body. The affouagistes proceed as if entering into a silent conversation. They know the slopes, the varieties of tree and the soils that retain water. They know which branches will bend, and which stumps will retain moisture. The forest, traversed and explored for generations, embodies a familiar, almost intimate place. Each season they establish a new balance with it, thus reinforcing a feeling of recognition and of belonging to the territory.

  • 19 In some cases a commission syndicale, made up of the mayor plus a number of elected members, manage (...)

This practice is an integral part of village life and helps to create social ties and mutual support for felling, processing and transporting wood to be used by individuals for fuel for heating.
– P.P., President of the commission syndicale19 of the Cheylard l’Évêque section de commune, Lozère, 23 July 2024

Affouage has been carried out uninterrupted and is a well-recognised activity for the inhabitants of the village of Vallon. This use right is the most valued form of shared identity […].
– Joint letter from the president of the governing board of the Vallon indivision, Bellevaux, Haute-Savoie, 19 November 2024

Moreover, it requires people to share, it brings them together. It involves passing on a common resource, a right, a tradition. In these uncertain times, it offers reassurance, bearing witness to a centuries-old history. (…) this right lays the foundations for a less individualistic, less virtual society centred on nature, with the obligation to protect it in order to perpetuate this heritage that has been passed down through the centuries.
-– A. C., mayor and affouagiste, Chanaleilles, Haute-Loire, 4 June 2024

9The strength of the ties forged between matter and memory in the villages where this practice has survived is very striking. Skills are passed on, but also stories and ways of being. The bodily movements of the practice, when repeated, become a shared language. Today, at a time when we are moving away from the tangible at a dizzying pace, affouage represents a quiet form of resistance. It reminds us of how our relationship with ‘nature’, far from being limited to contemplation, to a logic of shameless extraction, or conversely to pure protection, can also consist of attention and responsibility, effort and duty, and fatigue and pride.

The benefit of felling your own wood is that it makes you appreciate the value of this local resource and helps keep the tradition going.
– M.-T. R., mayor of Saint-Frézal d’Albuges and affouagiste, Lozère, 17 July 2024

[…] firewood is distributed equally among the inhabitants. Working in compliance with the Forestry Code, and through the contact and scent of the prepared wood, and with the pleasure of a job well done while respecting the trees that are felled and those that remain, takes you from being a simple spectator, a stranger to one’s environment, to a responsible stakeholder […].
– A. L., member of the commission syndicale and affouagiste, Cheylard l’Évêque, Lozère, 31 May 2024

10The affouagistes thus teach us that inhabiting a territory is not only about living in it and letting ourselves be carried along, but also about taking part in it, and leaving traces that are an act of care as well as one of transformation. These acts of remembrance will outlive current generations.

The Art of Felling, Social Economy and Ecological Responsibility

  • 20 Philippe Descola, Beyond Nature and Culture, trans. Janet Lloyd (University of Chicago Press, 2013) (...)

11The wood is shared, distributed and discussed. In a moral and ecological economy of the commons, everyone finds a place – not as an owner, but as a member of a community attached to the same land. Being involved, and receiving one’s lot of wood, means being recognised as an integral part of the territory, and being linked to others by the same warmth: of the fire, then of connection. This organisational model – quiet at times, and restless at others – is a form of ancestral solidarity that testifies to a diplomacy defined by reciprocity and sensitivity. It forms ties between humans and non-humans, and between inhabitants and the forest (Descola 2005; Morizot 2020).20

[Affouage] gives families on low incomes a way to heat their homes using firewood from forests near the village. […] simple and quick, and it embodies common sense, which for me is an intrinsic virtue of the new world taking shape for our children.
– I. B., member of a section de commune, Chaudeyrac, Lozère, 23 November 2024

12In these collected quotes, affouage becomes a kind of manifesto for a vibrant, autonomous rurality conscious of its social and ecological value based on a certain ethic that requires people to take no more wood than they need. This is also why the sale of affouage wood is prohibited.

[…] Each logging operation must be carried out with care, taking into account natural cycles and the needs of the ecosystem. In this way, we ensure not only the sustainability of our forests for future generations, but also the survival of numerous animal and plant species that depend on this environment to thrive.
- N. F., member of the bourgeoisie of Saint Gingolph and affouagiste, Haute-Savoie, 16 March 2025

At a time when individualism is doing so much harm, land commons allow us to discuss vitally important topics such as living together in harmony, ecology and ownership... in a spirit of sharing, joy and hope.
- M. R., member of a section de commune, Le Mas-de-Tence, Haute-Loire, 6 July 2024

13Affouage allows people to meet their essential needs while strengthening a sense of belonging to a local community. The act becomes a form of sharing.

To obtain this wood […] we look at the weather, at the phases of the moon that will allow us to better preserve the wood, we gather at someone’s house in the morning, with a coffee, and we organise work parties to fell, delimb and winch the big trunks, then we empty the loaded trailer at a particular house. And there's always someone there to lend a hand! The mutual support I’ve spontaneously found with the other rights holders has given me a place within this community of affouagistes.
– A. D., member of a section de commune and affouagiste, Retournac, Haute-Loire, 15 April 2025

Justice, Identity and Dignity

14Some of the collected extracts present affouage as the symbol of a struggle for recognition, pulled between local memory and institutional and social legitimacy. It is turned into a common cause, a guarantee of fairness. The people who continue to exercise these use rights note that affouage is not merely a tradition, but also represents a political and cultural call for the recognition of a common heritage and a conscious form of social justice based on use.

Affouage helps meet the basic need to keep oneself warm, and to house oneself more broadly, while respecting the dignity of residents by allowing them to be recognised as a community and to work together in and for their environment.
– T. C., member of the Béaux section de commune, Le Mas-de-Tence, Haute-Loire, 3 July 2024

15Here, the practice of affouage emerges as a form of silent resistance, and an act of dignity and autonomy: a humble, everyday practice, but one charged with identity.

Exercising common use rights has helped me to settle in this isolated, high-altitude area. It has also brought relief to the people who lived in this hamlet before me, and I hope will help those who live here after me.
– Y. C., member of the Béaux section de commune, Le Mas-de-Tence, Haute-Loire, 7 July 2024

[…] It is therefore necessary and essential that, through this form, our institutions recognise the reality of village community assets in all their diversity, the ancestral practice of affouage, and the skills of the inhabitants of these communities. […].
– D. C., president of the Le Geai des Bois community organisation and member of a section de commune in Auzelles, Puy-de-Dôme, 20 July 2024

16Ultimately, affouage provides those involved in the practice with a way to speak of a wider whole, which includes aspects such as the forest, the local community and shared actions. This whole bears witness to the fact that the warmth of a fire and the flickering light of a home are never provided solely by wood, but also those by the link that connects us to past, present and future generations, to the forest and to its inhabitants.

The Drive to Secure ICH Status: a Mirror of the Struggles to Safeguard Land Commons

  • 21 As of late 2025, 534 practices were listed on the French ICH website: see https://www.pci-lab.fr/, (...)
  • 22 In addition to the inventory form, this dossier includes letters of consent and support for inclusi (...)

17While the 2003 UNESCO Convention gives rural communities a way to pursue their desire for heritage recognition – many rural practices have been submitted for inclusion in the ICH inventory, including irrigation and transhumance21 – securing the inclusion of an element in the French ICH inventory involves a somewhat opaque state-led procedure that is external to local communities. It consists of submitting an application to the Ministry of Culture, and then preparing a collective dossier.22 Inclusion in the inventory is not a right. The dossier is submitted to the Committee for Ethnological and Intangible Heritage (Comité du patrimoine ethnologique et immatériel, CPEI), which proposes and recommends inclusion to the ministry.

  • 23 This is made clear in the testimonies. See in particular the video ‘La Forêt cache-t-elle le commun (...)

18In the case of affouage, the procedure for inclusion in the National Inventory was by no means a mere formality. Firstly, the rural communities behind the application struggled to put together a document that, from a formal and technical point of view, met the expectations of the Ministry of Culture and followed a pre-established framework. In general, especially in rural areas, communities are not aware that they can initiate an inclusion procedure, but believe that only the state can do so and make a decision on it. This lack of confidence in their ability to both defend the history and write the future of the heritage to which they are attached meant that the communities involved initially struggled to find the words to describe the practice. The first version of the dossier was then subsequently rejected by the committee, which caused misunderstandings among those involved in putting it together. While for the communities concerned, affouage is an immensely valuable practice that has been part of their lives for generations, they remain at the mercy of the opinions of experts who have sometimes never even heard of a practice until they receive a submission. In addition, applicants cannot present their case orally to the evaluation committee. They do not know the composition, names and qualifications of the ‘experts’, nor can this information be disclosed. The officials from the Ministry of Culture responsible for the ICH scheme did, however, play a constructive role by encouraging the project leads to ‘improve’ both the form and substance of their dossier and acting as a mediator, thus helping to bridge the gap between the overarching procedure and the aspirations of the writers. This meant softening some of the criticisms that the communities wanted to make of the authorities (particularly the state and the communes), based on the grounds that the latter often deny their use rights and their identity. Since affouage raises political issues, offering a simple, neutral description of it as a practice was a challenge. This points to the underlying question of the recognition of ancestral land commons and its related communities, whose actions illustrate above all their awareness of protecting heritage not for themselves, but for future generations.23

  • 24 Olivier Chavanon and Jean-François Joye, ‘La République contre elle-même : que raconte l’étouffemen (...)
  • 25 See Caroline Chamard-Heim, ‘Biens communaux et gestion forestière : plaidoyer pour une continuité h (...)

19This illustrates a paradox in the attitude of the French state, which proclaims the value of local heritage but fails to recognise the social structures that have created it, continue to generate it and can ensure its future. To be consistent, the government should also apply Article 13 of the UNESCO Convention by developing measures to safeguard land commons, since in theory all states parties to the Convention should strive to adopt a general policy designed to enhance the function of ICH in society and integrate the safeguarding of this heritage into planning programs. But this is not yet the case in France, where common landholdings are not valued by the state. Some, such as sections de commune, are even subject to an unfavourable legal framework (Chavanon and Joye, 2025)24 that does not support the practice of affouage (Chamard, 2021).25 National law therefore needs to be brought into line with the international law to which France adheres.

  • 26 As of 2025, 25 European countries had already signed and ratified the Convention. For an up-to-date (...)

20Overall, notwithstanding its merit in this specific case, the UNESCO system still appears lacking in terms of the democratic and transparent recognition of cultural heritage. In addition to the fact that it fails to encompass ‘hidden’ aspects of heritage despite the fact that they are often popular, living and true transmitters of social knowledge, there is also a feeling that it puts decisions about the future of this heritage in the hands of the elites or experts. There is, however, another international convention that aims to tackle this: the 2005 Council of Europe Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (known as the ‘Faro’ Convention), which advocates a broader vision of heritage and its relations with communities and society, and in particular assigns more importance to the meanings and uses that people associate with it. In another paradox, however, France is still reluctant to sign this convention.26

Proposed Initiatives for Safeguarding a Geographically Dispersed Practice

21The inclusion of affouage in the French National Inventory of ICH is merely the end of an initial stage, with the focus now turning to the future of the practice, relying mainly on the efforts of local people. The aim is to adopt measures to safeguard it in the context of the geographical dispersal of affouagiste communities across rural France. Various different actions have been proposed, as set out in the ICH inventory form. There is a particular focus on initiatives designed to improve knowledge of affouage among diverse audiences (including inhabitants, new inhabitants, elected representatives and civil servants) in order to address a lack of awareness. The aim is to showcase the strengths of the practice while giving it a contemporary image.

22The proposed initiatives include organising explanatory visits, particularly during European Heritage Days, village fetes and talks linked to adult education, and disseminating information about aspects such as the stages of affouage, safety regulations and the plots of land concerned. To this end, those who exercise the practice can use the ‘French ICH’ logo on their educational materials.

  • 27 Contrat Etat-ONF 2021-2025, p. 15.
  • 28 See in particular the VALCOM research partnership video ‘Gestion collective des ressources naturell (...)

23There is also a strong desire to improve dialogue with municipal authorities and the ONF. Affouage represents a concrete way of implementing Article L. 112-1 of the Forestry Code, which positions the protection and development of woods and forests as an objective of the national forestry policy within the framework of sustainable management, ‘in order to meet societal expectations regarding forests’. The affouagistes want to establish a constructive relationship with the ONF, whose advice is often necessary for the proper execution of the practice. It would be particularly beneficial to involve them more closely in drawing up forest management plans. Improving dialogue with civil society is also one of the benchmarks on which the current state-ONF contract is based.27 It is a challenge for the ONF to move in this direction, since it has often promoted commercial timber harvesting objectives at the expense of the collective use rights of local people. But it is now showing a desire to better consider the aspirations and rights of these communities,28 as reflected by the creation of a position for a ‘Forest and Society Dialogue’ project manager.

  • 29 See the ICH inventory form: for example, the committee that runs the ASBUC of Andonno (Piémont) reg (...)
  • 30 For example in Retournac in Haute-Loire, where a training course on logging has been set up for wom (...)
  • 31 Chaire Unesco ‘Patrimoine culturel immatériel et développement durable’ (CY Cergy Paris Université (...)
  • 32 COPO Project: COmmuns écologiques POpulaires, funded by ADEME between 2025 and 2027 as part of the (...)

24Finally, there is also a major focus on continuing education, since the practice involves some risks. Training sessions on affouage might, for example, cover the basic legal framework, terminology and safety issues (handling of equipment, techniques for felling and removing the wood). Training courses for affouagistes exist in Italy,29 and have recently been introduced in France, particularly for women, in the spirit of the inclusion of affouage in the French National Inventory of ICH.30 Research is also being carried out on how to promote ICH31 and to showcase the support it provides to working-class communities.32

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Notes

1 The VALCOM (‘Valoriser les Communs fonciers’) research partnership is supported by the University of Savoie Mont Blanc Foundation. See www.projetvalcom.fr (accessed 22 January 2026).

2 The ICH Affouage inventory form provides details of the survey areas (Lozère, Haute-Loire, Ain, Haute-Savoie, Puy-de-Dôme, and northern Italy), co-authors and a bibliography. It is published under document number 2025_67717_INV_PCI_FRANCE_00550 in the ‘Social and Festive Practices’ section of the French Ministry of Culture’s website: see https://projetvalcom.fr/index.php/2025/09/06/patrimoine-culturel-immateriel/, accessed 22 January 2026.

3 The French Law no. 2016-925 of July 7, 2016 concerning the freedom of creation, architecture and heritage (Art. 55) provided a legal basis for the concrete implementation of the UNESCO Convention. It supplemented the definition of heritage in Article 1 of the French Heritage Code to include ICH, as defined in Article 2 of the Convention.

4 A commune is the smallest administrative division in France, roughly equivalent to a civil parish in the UK but with much greater powers. It is governed by an elected mayor [maire] and a municipal council.

5 The equivalent term in English is ‘estovers’ or the ‘common of estovers’, defined as ‘a liberty of taking necessary wood, for the use or furniture of a house, or farm, from off another’s estate’ (see OED, https://www.oed.com/dictionary/estovers_n?tl=true, accessed 22 January 2026.

6 From the Late Latin affoagium and affocare meaning ‘to put in the foyer’, from ad (to) and focus (meaning hearth and figuratively house or family): see https://www.littre.org/definition/affouage, accessed 22 January 2026.

7 On the history of affouage, see the ICH inventory form and its bibliography, in particular the work of Andrée Corvol, notably L’Homme aux bois. Histoire des relations de l’homme et de la forêt, XVIIe-XXe siècle (Fayard, 1987).

8 Jean-François Joye, ‘L’affouage en section de commune. Une demande sociale à satisfaire’, AJDA, 3 (2025): 132-138.

9 Wood belonging to others: sections de commune, communes, the state (although this is now rare) or private owners.

10 Article 542 of the French Code Civil defines biens communaux as ‘that to whose ownership or yield the inhabitants of one or more communes have a vested right.’

11 Article L. 2411-1, Section I of the General Local Authorities Code (CGCT) defines a section de commune as ‘any part of a commune that permanently and exclusively possesses property or rights distinct from those of the commune.’

12 For a diachronic overview see Jean-François Joye, ed., Les « communaux » au 21e siècle. Une propriété collective entre histoire et modernité (Presses USMB, 2021).

13 Affouage does, however, take place in wooded areas outside mountain areas, notably in the communal forest of La Teste-de-Buch in Gironde.

14 Alessandro Crosetti, and Jean-François Joye, eds., ‘Mountains and the Collective Management of the Commons: Influences and Interactions’, Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine 109-1 (2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rga.8071.

15 In particular, ONF officials determine the area to be logged.

16 Articles L. 243-1 to L. 243-4, R. 243-1 et seq.

17 French Forestry Code, Articles L. 243-1 and L. 241-16.

18 Survey conducted from March 2019 to May 2025 in France and northern Italy.

19 In some cases a commission syndicale, made up of the mayor plus a number of elected members, manages the common resources owned by a section de commune.

20 Philippe Descola, Beyond Nature and Culture, trans. Janet Lloyd (University of Chicago Press, 2013); Baptiste Morizot, Manières d’être vivant: Enquêtes sur la vie à travers nous (Actes Sud, 2020).

21 As of late 2025, 534 practices were listed on the French ICH website: see https://www.pci-lab.fr/, accessed 22 January 2026.

22 In addition to the inventory form, this dossier includes letters of consent and support for inclusion written by members of the communities involved.

23 This is made clear in the testimonies. See in particular the video ‘La Forêt cache-t-elle le commun. Enjeux de gestion forestière durable en section de commune’, December 14 and 15, 2024, Mas de Tence, Haute-Loire, Territorial Encounters Team, VALCOM research partnership, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7snovuF7L0, accessed 22 January 2026.

24 Olivier Chavanon and Jean-François Joye, ‘La République contre elle-même : que raconte l’étouffement des sections de commune quant au fonctionnement de l’État contemporain ?’, Métropolitiques, 9 October 2025, https://metropolitiques.eu/La-Republique-contre-elle-meme-que-raconte-l-etouffement-des-sections-de.html, accessed 22 January 2026.

25 See Caroline Chamard-Heim, ‘Biens communaux et gestion forestière : plaidoyer pour une continuité historique,’ in Les « communaux » au XXIe siècle, ed. Joye, pp. 451-469; Joye, L’affouage en section de commune, une demande sociale à satisfaire.’

26 As of 2025, 25 European countries had already signed and ratified the Convention. For an up-to-date view on progress, see the Council of Europe website, https://www.coe.int/en/web/culture-and-heritage/faro-convention, accessed 22 January 2026. See also: P. Wanner, ‘De l’intérêt de la Convention de Faro pour protéger et développer les communs fonciers’, Métropolitiques, 17 November 2025, https://metropolitiques.eu/De-l-interet-de-la-Convention-de-Faro-pour-proteger-et-developper-les-communs.html, accessed 22 January 2026.

27 Contrat Etat-ONF 2021-2025, p. 15.

28 See in particular the VALCOM research partnership video ‘Gestion collective des ressources naturelles : les communs ruraux à l’avant-garde des enjeux d’aujourd’hui et de demain,’ https://www.youtube.com/@sociologueolivierchavanon, accessed 22 January 2026.

29 See the ICH inventory form: for example, the committee that runs the ASBUC of Andonno (Piémont) regularly trains about thirty affouagistes, with financial help from the Piedmont region.

30 For example in Retournac in Haute-Loire, where a training course on logging has been set up for women affouagistes: https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/haute-loire/ces-femmes-se-forment-au-bucheronnage-pour-faire-vivre-une-pratique-qui-remonte-au-moyen-age-3219713.html, accessed 22 January 2026.

31 Chaire Unesco ‘Patrimoine culturel immatériel et développement durable’ (CY Cergy Paris Université – UMR Héritages: Culture/s, Patrimoine/s, Création/s).

32 COPO Project: COmmuns écologiques POpulaires, funded by ADEME between 2025 and 2027 as part of the APR TEES. Study site for firewood collection in the Grand Est region.

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Titre Photo – Affouage logs stacked in the forest of the section de commune of Cheylard-l’Évêque (Lozère)
Crédits Alain Levet, 2024
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Julia Ambrosio, Clara Baquedano, Jean-François Joye et Sarah Ludwig, « Affouage as an Element of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Recognition of the Value of Mountain Knowledge and Practices to the Green Transition »Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine [En ligne], Transitions, mis en ligne le 20 avril 2026, consulté le 13 mai 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rga/17255 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/1633f

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