Landmine Clearing for Results

Results achieved as of June 2014 include: (1) more than 42 square kilometres of affected land in the most mine-affected areas of north-west Cambodia (Battambang Bantey Meanchey and Pailin) was cleared of land mines based on priorities established at provincial and local levels. resulting in rural Cambodians having access to productive land for agriculture irrigation canals housing roads and health clinics; (2) the number of casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war in the three target provinces decreased from 4 300 in 1996 to 13 in 2013; and (3) more than 25 000 people benefitted directly by gaining housing and agricultural plots on the newly cleared land and more than 233 400 people benefitted indirectly because of the reduced risk of injury from land mines and because they use the infrastructure such as schools roads and hospitals built on the cleared land. The Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) played a key role in leading the implementation of the National Mine Action Strategy through the technical Working Group on Mine Action. The CMAA’s capacity for mine action planning and monitoring and ensuring greater transparency and cost-efficiency in making land available to poor women and men living in rural areas was significantly improved. The CMAA promoted the efficient use of resources by demining operators by undertaking a competitive bidding process to award mines clearance contracts and by ensuring that baseline surveys were undertaken to allocate mine clearance assets and resources more efficiently and coherently.The CMAA also issued new control procedures to strengthen its performance management systems and increase its operational efficiency and effectiveness. These results have contributed to reducing the number of land mine casualties by 67% (exceeding the target of an annual reduction of ten percent) and to clearing land which can then be used productively to contribute to reducing poverty in Cambodia.