Golf & NABU: Time for cooperation
A Goliath cooperating with a David: this is probably an exaggerated way of describing the cooperation between NABU Lower Saxony, with its 128,000 members and over 200 groups, and the Lower Saxony-Bremen Golf Association, with its 75,000 members and 83 clubs. “It’s the areas and the location of the golf courses that we find exciting,” says Dr. Holger Buschmann, NABU’s regional chairman, explaining the new cooperation, which has been in place since October 2024. For Hinrich Arkenau, Managing Director of the Lower Saxony-Bremen Golf Association, the reasons are also clear: “NABU Lower Saxony stands for credibility regarding environmental protection. We were looking for a partner who is convincing in this area.” When it comes to environmental protection, the signs point to cooperation rather than confrontation regarding golf. In Switzerland and France, the national golf associations run joint projects with the WWF. In southern Germany, the Bavarian Golf Association works with the Bavarian State Association for the Protection of Birds as part of the Bavarian Flowering Pact. The cooperation in Lower Saxony with NABU is the second project of its kind in Germany.
“In the past, that would have been unthinkable for us because golf courses were built in beautiful areas. There was bound to be conflict,” recalls Buschmann. “That has changed significantly and today we see golf courses on former farmland or industrial sites.” He hopes that this will create opportunities. “We hope to bring in the expertise of our local volunteers, for example, when it comes to the reintroduction of endangered species. We have a lot of active NABU people on site who are enthusiastic about species-rich areas.” For Hinrich Arkenau as a representative of the golf association, the fact that NABU representatives visit the golf courses and rate them positively is real progress. He is also familiar with rather controversial discussions with environmentalists or green politicians from the past. “In the past, for example, the Green Youth called for a complete ban on watering golf courses in Lower Saxony.” That was a wake-up call for him. “I was looking for a partner who could make a difference in public relations work.” This is how the cooperation with NABU came about.
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Now, the focus is on joint projects for the future. Environmental education is an area in which both Fleischmann and Arkenau can imagine activities. Both are thinking of the younger generation in particular. The NABU youth and young golfers are to be addressed together to create a comprehensive understanding of the potential of a golf course in promoting biodiversity. Fleischmann, the non-golfer, and Arkenau, the newcomer in the field of nature conservation, have already become closer. “Every time we sit together, I learn something,” Arkenau sums up and emphasizes once again. “There will be no greenwashing with our association.” This message has long since reached Buschmann. “I’m not a golfer, but these golf courses have potential for us.” Now, it’s just a matter of raising it together.
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