High consumerism in today’s society creates a wide range of environmental problems, such as unsustainable resource exploitation, the pollution generated in the production and transformation of products, and the waste produced at their end-of-life cycle. Unfortunately, much of this waste ends up in nature.
The “La Muntanya” Hunters Club of Borriol, from Spain, joined hunters and volunteers to implement the “We Clean the Forest” program. This initiative aims to raise awareness and educate society about the importance of maintaining a clean environment while removing waste from natural areas. To achieve this goal, they organized two activities
POLICY RELEVANCE
Awareness raising campaigns such as this one to tackle bad habits when it comes to wildlife conservation are well in line with EU’s Biodiversity Strategy. This project, which started in 2004, is a good example of how hunters have long been key players in local wildlife conservation.
In the first activity, they positioned several containers along with informative posters. These posters highlighted the time it takes for various materials to degrade in nature and provided information about the operating hours and location of the municipal ecopark.
The second activity involved a cleanup day during which hunters and volunteers collected items such as refrigerators, mattresses, televisions, debris, glass, and other belongings. These collected items were then placed in a container provided by the Borriol City Council and subsequently transported to the municipal ecopark by an authorized company.
