Mine Action in Afghanistan receives additional funding

New funding of over USD 2.5 million has cushioned the budget shortfall of the United Nations Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA). This amount will allow some of the clearance organisations to continue working. The donations were made available by Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and the USA Adopt-a-Minefield programme.
In 2000, the total amount requested was US$ 25.3 million. With the new funding, approximately 65% of this amount has been met. Due to the funding shortfall earlier in the year, operational teams were sent on two months unpaid leave between September and December, while salaries were frozen.

The funding reduction has meant that 64% of clearance, 98 % of survey, and 68 % of mine awareness targets were accomplished.

MAPA's forecast budget for 2001 is USD 20 million. This will finance 31 survey teams, 115 clearance teams, 11 training teams, 12 mine awareness projects and a range of management and technical and support services. This is a minor reduction of five manual clearance teams and two survey teams compared to the year 2000. MAPA activities for 2001 will be spread throughout Afghanistan in areas most affected by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). In 2001, MAPA plans to clear 79 square kilometres of mine/UXO contaminated land, survey 83 sq km of mine/UXO contaminated land, provide mine awareness training for some 900,000 Afghans, and conduct 140 technical training courses.

All teams are presently in existence and will continue to operate. The donor community is supportive of the 2001 plan and the UNOCHA/MACA is cautiously optimistic that this plan will be fully funded.

Afghanistan remains one of the countries most severely affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the world. The current remaining area contaminated by landmines in Afghanistan is 718 square kilometres (sq km) which is spread throughout the country. Of this, 338 sq km are assessed as being vitally important residential areas, commercial land, roads, irrigation systems and primary production land. Although accurate national figures on casualties are not available, data indicates that casualties may be a high as 150 to 300 per month.

In addition to approximately 3,000 civilian landmine victims per year, the total economic loss to the country over the past 10 years because of mines and UXOs is estimated to be more than US$ 550 million.

Since its inception in 1989, the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan has grown to a workforce of over 4,800 personnel. The Mine Action Programme plans, manages, and oversees all mine action activities for Afghanistan. It is one of the largest, most efficient, most cost-effective mine action programmes in the world.