Overview

Staff from the Tajikistan Mine Action Centre (TMAC) and GICHD accompanied by Tajik military engineers inspecting Russian laid minefields on the Afghan border.

In a study of over 15 different programmes in 2004 it was found that of 292km2 of land that had physically been cleared, less than 2.5% of the area proved to be actually contaminated with landmines.

These statistics underscore known inefficiencies in the targeting of clearance resources within the mine action sector where too much land remains subject to full clearance when significant areas could (in many instances) be released through less expensive and more rapid non-technical and technical survey methods.

It is improvements in the balance of survey activities versus clearance that is the focus of the Land Release concept. The challenge is to advance ‘decision making’ processes based on appropriate responses to the level of threats and to take best practices, already undertaken by many operators, across the industry as a whole. The term ‘Land Release’ has attracted much debate, however the importance of sourcing and scrutinizing better information in order to cancel spurious mine records and improve approaches to reduce the size of areas identified for full clearance is undisputed.

The Land Release concept aims at promoting improved technical and non technical survey to minimise the use of more expensive clearance approaches and to better target them on actual mined areas

The introduction of the three Land Release International Mine Action Standards (IMAS 08.20, 08.21 & 08.22) in July 2009 provide operators, national authorities and donors with an appropriate reference to help address liability concerns and to encourage a review of this most critical, but challenging, area of mine action.  This is essential in order to make appreciable advances in clearance efficiency and to help develop better planning tools for national authorities – especially for those countries that have obligations under the AP Mine Ban Convention.

The GICHD Land Release Team is engaged with National Authorities, UN, Donors and Operators to promote better survey and operational planning to facilitate more efficient land release procedures. Such activities take the form of:

• Promotion and provision of outreach activities for the Land Release concepts and IMAS 08.20, 08.21 and 08.22;
• Refinement and further development of generic land release models and,
• Publishing of reference material on Land Release issues (e.g. Technical & Non Technical Survey approaches)

The Land Release unit works in conjunction with GICHD staff from the Operational Section involved in mechanical and mine dog support activities. There are also important links with the GICHD IMSMA team and the ISU.

General Presentation on Land Release | August 2009 PDF 801KB 

GICHD Publications concerning Land Release

Contact

Guy Rhodes