Successful initiative
UNA Foundation – Man, Nature, Environment – announces the overall results of the third edition of its most representative project, Operation Paladins of the Territory, which in 2024 involved over 6000 volunteers in 15 Italian regions, recording a 50% increase compared to the previous year. Each participating hunter, over the course of the year, donated an average of 15 hours to the community, for a total of over 90.000 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, resulting in benefits for over 6 million citizens who live in the areas involved.
Forest clearing and more
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 several particularly dangerous ones such as asbestos and broken glass, 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, all materials whose average decomposition time largely exceeds one hundred years. 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 provincial section Enalcaccia of Ragusa and also that of Biella.
People's gratitude
There have been several initiatives aimed at restoring paths, green and urban areas, even rebuilding a bridge that collapsed due to bad weather, as was the case in the province of Turin, thanks to the FIDC Alta Val Grande municipal section, arousing interest and gratitude from residents. But Operation Paladini del Territorio 2024 was also and above all characterized by the variety of candidate initiatives: compared to the first editions, the desire of the UNA Foundation to expand the scope of the project, including all the initiatives through which hunting clubs are active in their territory, has allowed all the ways in which hunters support the community to be systematized. Some of the initiatives for information purposes have involved children from the community, such as those organized by FIDC Nucleo di Magenta “Eligio Colombo”, by the FIDC provincial section of Trieste, by the Cecinesi Associations and by Arcicaccia in Tuscany. Others have been dedicated to the care of the most vulnerable groups of the population, as was the case in the province of Brescia, thanks to the FIDC municipal section of Borgosatollo.
Continuous improvement
“The results of the third edition of Operazione Paladini del Territorio are extraordinary not only insofar as they further increase, if not double, 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” said Maurizio Zipponi, president of Fondazione UNA, commenting on the great success of the third edition of the project. “I thank all the hunting associations and every single volunteer who during 2024 chose to dedicate themselves to their territory, to their community, and contribute to their protection together with UNA”. For 2025, Fondazione UNA renews the invitation to take part in Operazione Paladini del Territorio, for its fourth edition, reconfirming that desire of the hunting world to actively contribute 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, thus sealing the bond between the hunter and his community, his territory of belonging.
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