How much money is needed to remove all of the world’s landmines?
Last Updated: May 09, 2018
No one knows for sure because there is no definitive assessment of how much land is affected by landmines. Mined areas are being newly located all the time. Many individual countries, however, have come up with reliable estimates of the costs involved in becoming free from the threat of landmines. Many of these estimates stem from the development of national mine-clearance plans, often with UN assistance.
It’s impossible to measure the cost of removing one landmine from the ground. Mine clearance costs vary according to terrain (hillsides or flat ground), foliage (dense foliage complicates locating mines), and the type of equipment of methods used (such as metal detectors or explosive-detecting dogs). Sometimes, deminers may check an area for mines, only to find none. The effort is not a waste of resources because it at least confirms for a community that the area is safe for use. Therefore, removing no mines also costs money. Statements indicating the cost of producing and laying a landmine in relation to the cost of removing that same landmine are therefore misleading.
The following Dag Hammarskjöld Library Resource Guides are good places to begin research on the topic.
- Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War - Created by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the UNOG Library in collaboration with UN Mine Action Services, this guide provides information on landmines, explosive remnants of war, and other weapons of societal disruption.
- UN Documentation Research Guide: Disarmament
- UN Documentation Research Guide: Peacekeeping
Disclaimer: answers are prepared by library staff using resources available at the time of writing. This site may include links and references to third-party databases, websites, books and articles, this does not imply endorsement by the United Nations.