English

Economics of landmines and demining

Landmines threaten human lives and the welfare of mine-affected countries. They cause an economic burden both by destroying lives and by limiting the valuable use of land. Landmines remain dangerous for decades after they are deployed, killing or injuring civilians and rendering land impassable and unusable. Historically, studies of the impact of landmines mostly focused on safety issues and the risk of injuries and deaths. More recently, it has become obvious that landmines can interfere with the overall economic development of mine-affected nations. In reaction to the problems posed by landmines, the world community has responded with attempts to tackle the problem of landmines. A newly formed \"mine action\" industry has grown rapidly in the last decade. Mine-affected countries, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and donor countries are among those supporting mine action programs to alleviate suffering and assist in the reconstruction of mineaffected nations. There are many ways to reduce the impact of landmines, but the most common practice is demining. Demining is quite dangerous and expensive to implement and involves many complex challenges. I

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