Economic efficiency and priority of demining: international experience

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the sequence of demining territories through the prism of examples of foreign experience and probable economic effects. As of 2023, Ukraine is the country in Europe most mined and affected by explosive objects, and given the continuation of the military conflict, the area of affected territories is already more than 250,000 km2 and will only grow. Cautiously optimistic forecasts estimate the duration of humanitarian demining in decades and hundreds of billions of dollars. Post-conflict experience convinces that every country facing the need to demine territories after the end of hostilities can solve this problem independently at the expense of budget funds and, therefore, turn to international and domestic providers of humanitarian demining services for help. New mines experience insidious complications, the cases of which are made of unusual materials (wood, plastic, etc.), form a different composition of explosive substances, which maximally changes the investigated physical properties and complicates the possibility of their further identification. Therefore, only some of the currently existing methods give a guarantee of 100% cleaning of the territory. Any accident in the cleared environments is not only a tragedy and loss but also the fear of refugees to return, peaceful living and activities. The cost and time required for demining are much more significant than manufacturing and installing mines. This motivates governments and scientific communities to find safe, fast, and accurate demining solutions. Given the vast areas and limited resources for rapid recovery and sustainable development, humanitarian demining measures should be prioritized. Based on this and considering foreign experience, approaches to the priority return to economic use of the most promising land plots should be substantiated. The results of the optimal use of such territories will form additional economical means for demining and speeding up the clearance of the remaining regions. Examples of the return to economic use of different types of land use according to their intended use are considered. Keywords: humanitarian demining; land use; land management; Sustainability; planning.