Adnkronos Rome, 5 Feb. (Adnkronos) – Over 6 thousand volunteers in 15 Italian regions, for a total of more than 90 thousand hours of volunteering, 160 initiatives of various kinds, from maintenance of green areas to outreach activities, 80 tons of waste removed from the environment. These are some of the numbers of the third edition of the Operazione Paladini del Territori project by Fondazione Una – Uomo, Natura.
“The results of the third edition of Operation Paladini del Territorio are extraordinary not only insofar as they further increase, if not double, what was the experience of 2023. They are extraordinary because they are yet another demonstration of how the hunting community is not closed in on itself as it is portrayed, but is instead open, responsible, proud of its role at a social level – declared Maurizio Zipponi, president of the Una Foundation - I thank all the hunting associations and every single volunteer who during 2024 chose to dedicate themselves to their territory, to their community, and to contribute to their protection together with Una”.
More specifically, during 2024, the project involved over 6 volunteers in 15 Italian regions, recording a 50% increase compared to the previous year. Each participating hunter, during the year, donated an average of 15 hours to the community, for a total of over 90 hours of volunteering donated by the hunting community. The volunteers who took part with their own initiatives in the Fondazione Una project, coordinated by over a hundred provincial and municipal sections of national hunting associations (primarily Federcaccia, Enalcaccia and Arcicaccia), organized over 160 volunteer initiatives of various kinds, from the maintenance of green areas to the collection of waste dispersed in the natural environment, up to dissemination activities in collaboration with schools and initiatives to support scientific projects, bringing benefits to over 6 million citizens who live in the areas involved.
Thanks to the commitment of the Paladini del Territorio, over 80 tons of waste were removed from the environment: a weight equivalent to that of 8 trucks. Among the waste collected and correctly disposed of by the hunters, there were also some dangerous waste but also bulky waste, abandoned for a long time in natural areas, such as tires, broken household appliances, bicycles and other means of transport, iron and metal waste. A great contribution to the cleaning of woods and natural areas was given by the volunteers of the Atc Provincia di Lecce, which involved over 30 local sections, but also by the Fidc municipal sections of Ferentillo, in the province of Terni, of Cirò Marina, province of Crotone, and of Campolongo Tapogliano, Udine, by the Enalcaccia provincial section of Ragusa and also by that of Biella. There were several initiatives aimed at restoring paths, green and urban areas, even reaching the reconstruction of a bridge that collapsed due to bad weather, in the province of Turin, thanks to the Fidc Alta Val Grande municipal section.
The 2024 Operation Paladini del Territorio was characterized also and above all by the variety of the candidate initiatives: compared to the first editions, the desire of Fondazione Una to expand the scope of the project, including the various initiatives through which the hunting clubs are active in their territory, has allowed to systematize all the ways in which hunters support the community. Some of the initiatives for information purposes have involved the children of the community, such as those organized by Fidc Nucleo di Magenta 'Eligio Colombo', by the provincial Fidc section of Trieste, by the Cecinesi Associations and by Arcicaccia in Tuscany. Others have been dedicated to the care of the most vulnerable sections of the population, as was the case in the province of Brescia, thanks to the Fidc municipal section of Borgosatollo.
For 2025, Fondazione Una renews the invitation to take part in Operazione Paladini del Territorio, for its fourth edition, reconfirming the goal of actively contributing to the preservation and care of the environment that has been the driving force of the project since its inception. The announcement of the fourth edition also brings with it the novelty of the opening of the first Paladino del Territorio desk, active on the Fondazione Una website, through which it will be possible to request the intervention of volunteers where it is necessary.