When the whole country is sweating under the heat wave, when its forests are on fire and its lands are dying of thirst, the image is to say the least offbeat: a few people of good company are tapping the little white ball on a green of perfect grass green. A golf privilege that goes badly in times of drought, and some environmental activists have not hesitated to let it be known. Near Toulouse in mid-August, in Yvelines ten days later, in Oise in early September, groups of activists targeted a few courses, vandalizing lawns, cementing a few holes and denouncing here “water grabbing”somewhere else “those golf courses that only benefit the bourgeois”.
On the side of the French Golf Federation (FFG), Sylvianne Villaudière, vice-president elected at the end of 2020 and in charge of the ecological transition, deplores the “shortcuts” which do not take into account the efforts made for a long time by the clubs in the management of water resources.
A framework agreement with the public authorities, the third since 2006 and covering the period 2019-2024, authorizes golf courses, even in the event of extreme drought, to water only the greens. “They represent only 1 to 2% of the 33,000 hectares covered by our golf courses and, without watering, they can die and jeopardize economic activity and the 15,000 people employed by our sector, insists Sylvianne Villaudière. This summer, 68 of our courses were nevertheless completely banned, with some prefects going beyond our framework agreement. It is still too early to estimate the damage. »
Use wastewater
And the vice-president to highlight these few golf courses (about fifteen) which today use wastewater, such as that of Sainte-Maxime (Var) which has invested 1.3 million euros to be able to use the water from the nearby treatment plant previously discharged into the sea. “The cost is enormous for the clubs, and this practice also comes up against specifications and administrative complexities which further limit this solution”, emphasizes Sylvianne Villaudière.
The federal elected official, who is not from the seraglio, knows her subject well. With her firm, she advised a number of companies on the social and environmental responsibility (CSR) aspect and ensured the coordination of the COP21 Solutions network before the 2015 United Nations Conference. She does not intend to be an extra at the FFG. She knows that the climate emergency demands a “acceleration”. In terms of governance, a new strategic committee meets every month, and four groups of experts (water, grass, biodiversity, innovation) have been set up. In each of the 13 regional leagues, referents and ambassadors are appointed to disseminate information and report on good practices.
Adapt or die
Since February 2022, the federal teams have visited them all, and a conference of the territories to report on this tour is scheduled for the end of next November. A general mobilization which is also reflected in federal investments, doubled (to €500,000) to finance research in particular, such as the experimentation of new collections of lawn grasses in a dozen clubs, on different soils and different climates.
On biodiversity, the work supported since 2018 by the National Museum of Natural History continues after the reporting of 23,000 data in four years on habitats and natural areas, and a new partnership was signed in 2021 with the Office French for Biodiversity (OFB). “New technologies are also being deployed, from probes monitoring soil humidity to robots facilitating maintenance, and all our clubs must continue to improve their practices, some of which started fifteen years ago.concludes Sylvianne Villaudière. We must, like all other outdoor sports, be efficient on all these subjects. This is our role as athletes and our responsibility as citizens. Otherwise, this discipline will disappear. »
