Mary Hakopyan: where will the Ukrainian experience in humanitarian demining be useful?

Did you know that farmers in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands still regularly remove World War II-era explosives and munitions from their fields?

Member of the Supervisory Board of the National Mine Action Operator UDS, Head of the Ukrainian National Association for Humanitarian Demining, ex-Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mary Hakopyan told in a blog for OBOZ.UA how Ukrainian experience in humanitarian demining will be useful.

Back in 2023, the United Nations, on the eve of the International Day for Mine Safety Education and Assistance for Mine Action, said that about 70 countries around the world have problems with landmines. Somehow, these data did not receive due attention. Actually, the UN did not add a complete list of countries. Unfortunately, among all these 70 countries, Ukraine is the most mined.

However, among them, believe me, there are countries that you would hardly ever think about.

Did you know that farmers in France, Belgium, Germany and, for example, the Netherlands, still regularly remove explosive objects and ammunition from the Second World War from their fields?

And in France, besides, there is a huge territory contaminated by shells since the First World War - Zone Rouge. This French land is still a lasting reminder of the Battle of Verdun. Zone Rouge is an area of ​​17,000 hectares, which, more than a century after the war, is still uninhabited, and access to it is limited. Many former battlefields contain unexploded ordnance: artillery shells, gas shells, grenades and small arms ammunition. Lead, mercury, chlorine, arsenic and acids still pollute and destroy the soil of northeastern France.

Local authorities believe that it will take another 300 years to clear the area. However, some experts are sure that Zone Rouge will never be completely cleared of the shells of the First and Second World Wars.

Germany. A few years ago, a World War II bomb was found at Tesla's new German factory near Berlin. And to this day, notifications about discovered ammunition are still being received in Germany. They were found in Augsburg, Berlin, Bochum, Cologne, Dortmund, Erfurt, Essen, Freiburg in Bryzas, Halle, Hamburg, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, Stuttgart and Xanten.

Unexploded bombs are still found all over Great Britain: from, for example, sleepy areas like Drayton to big cities, including London.

Mine danger still exists in Italy. Unexploded shells were found even in the ruins of Pompeii. In addition, not only aerial bombs are a danger. Countless sea and land mines still remain on the beaches along the coast, posing a serious danger.

Belgium. According to local residents, an average of 10 explosive devices per day or 250 tons per year are found in Belgium. These are all kinds of unexploded ordnance from both world wars: from hand grenades and artillery shells to aerial bombs.

Croatia also suffers not only from the consequences of the Second World War, but also after the Croatian War of Independence of 1991-1995.

At the end of 2020, 27,955 hectares of territory were still contaminated in Croatia, including 19,688 hectares of definitely mined areas and 8,266 hectares of suspected explosive ordnance.

Yes, demining programs were created all over the world after the Second World War, but we see that none of them have been completed. That is, the challenge to defuse mines and bombs is still on time.

Ukraine's experience in this area will be very useful for the whole world, because our territory is very diverse: from steppes, deserts and forests to mountains. In addition, there are different types of soil. The level of experience and training of Ukrainian deminers is already invaluable for other countries of the world, which are still struggling with the consequences of the First and Second World Wars. And every day this experience is consolidated by demining works in fields and forests. In addition, the price of Ukrainian demining companies remains the most acceptable: if in European countries the cost of demining ranges from several euros to several tens of euros, depending on the conditions and scope of work, then in Ukraine it is still many times cheaper, despite the density of pollution and the complexity of the work. Ukrainian operators, even taking into account a 25% profit, can perform basic manual demining work at $3/sq.m., mechanized demining at $0.5/sq.m., and a combined method at $3-5 / sq.m.

By the way, the state does not stand aside. Ukraine pays a lot of attention to the topic of anti-mine activities, and this year the budget allocated 3 billion hryvnias for a separate term to compensate farmers for the humanitarian demining of agricultural lands. This has already contributed to the formation of the market and could stimulate further development, including technology. And, I hope, this program will be finalized and will be fully launched. In principle, 5 more months (until the end of the budget period-2024) for this, and if we take into account the suggestions and comments of operators and farmers, it is quite realistic. Also critically important is the possibility of long-term budget planning with, in fact, a guaranteed budget for a long period. This will also stimulate the market.

Along with this, Ukrainian engineers continue to develop the technological component: our inventors have designed a unique drone scanner for demining fields. It detects dangerous objects before sappers go to the field.

By the way, UDS sappers have also tested drones that search for mines using a magnetometer and neural networks. The survey of the areas was carried out using DJI M30t and DJI M300 drones with a magnetometer, and the collected data was analyzed by UADAMAGE using neural networks.

Ukrainian specialists have many such interesting solutions. And they, together with our experience, will certainly be useful to more than one country to speed up the cleaning of their lands. And not for 300 years.

The column was prepared for OBOZ.UA: http://surl.li/qonemr.