Chaparral Golf Club is an example of good environmental practice, being pioneers in the use of ecological beekeeping in golf courses.

Chaparral Golf Club, a unique 18-hole golf course surrounded by a pine forest in the heart of the Costa del Sol, has just invested in a quite unusual activity nowadays; organic beekeeping.

During the round of golf, the visitors may enjoy wonderful views, spectacular climate and a variety of holes with an indigenous Mediterranean flora and in a distance, some of the bee hives that have been put out throughout the course. Unusual hostile weather and the use of pesticides have caused a heavy mortality of bees in Spain. A part from the decrease in the honey production and other bee products, the main consequence of this vast mortality of bees, is the poor pollination of both crops and wild species, which has had disastrous economic repercussions in the agriculture and severely affecting the biodiversity of the mountains and forests.

The managing director of Chaparral, Domingo Gavira, tells us, that the Club has opted for an ecological beekeeping, which follows a specific regulation and a series of techniques, focusing on artisanal production, avoiding all types of synthetic chemical substances (herbicides, insecticides, etc.).

With this, the Club try to achieve a sustainable development of the forest and to maintain the natural ecosystem on the golf course.