DanChurchAid
Humanitarian Mine Action
Mine and UXO clearance
Deming - Mine/UXO Clearance
Mine clearance is one of the five core pillars of humanitarian mine action. This range of activities is also sometimes referred to as "demining".
In its broad sense, it includes surveys, mapping and minefield marking, as well as the actual clearance of mines from the ground.
The socio-economic impact survey techniques are described in the chapter on Survey and priority setting.
Clearance operations make use of three main methods:
1. Manual clearance relies on trained deminers using metal detectors and prodders to locate the mines, which are then destroyed by controlled explosion. This technique is cumbersome and slow but a lot of times the most efficient, when taking into account the costs of use of not context-appropriate technology as well as benefits of the programme to the community wider than mine action. In Sudan the manual clearance was also used as part of the peace building process in Nuba mountains, employing and jointly training deminers from both sides of the conflict.
2. Mine detection dogs (MDD) detect the presence of explosives in the ground by smell. MDD are used in combination with manual deminers or for clearance after the mechanical clearance.
3. Mechanical clearance is using flails, rollers, vegetation cutters and excavators, attached to armoured vehicles, to destroy the mines in the ground. These machines can only be used in certain terrains, and are often quite expensive to operate. In most situations they are also not 100% reliable, and the work needs to be checked by other techniques after clearance and also sustainability (operations to continue after the international funding runs out) issues need to be considered. Having said that is some situation their use is the most effective, as e.g. road verification in Angola, where DCA is using WADS system.
