Wars left the world littered with landmines; these innovations help in clearing them.
Clearing landmines remains one of the most arduous problems for the world. Wars and conflicts in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Egpyt, Angola left an estimated 110 million active landmines across the world.
This warfare tactic is still used in recent conflicts, such as in Ukraine, where both parties use anti-vehicle mines. Russia also deploys anti-personnel mines, since it didn’t sign the Ottawa treaty, like Ukraine did, banning the use of such mines. This is affecting the civilian population in access to civilian homes, infrastructure, transportation routes, and agricultural lands. Eastern Ukraine remains one of the areas most contaminated by landmines in the world, due to the war with Russia that started in 2014.
The United Nations estimates that if demining efforts remain the same, it might take approximately 1,100 years for all mines in the world to be cleared. Hence the need for innovative technologies to tackle this problem. The trusty method of hand-held metal detectors or trained animals to track down mines will take too long. There’s a need for innovation, especially if ambitious goals like the Landmine Free 2025 campaign are to be achieved. Take a look at some inspiring solutions and successes over the past years.
1.
Mine Kafon
Two brothers from Afghanistan, Massoud and Mahmud now living in the Netherlands are working on a solution. Inspired by their history of living in mine littered Afghanistan they ended up in industrial design. First, a wind-powered art piece was realised and used as an awareness campaign. It motivated them to continue working on a solution, and after years of developing their work resulted in a drone system. One drone that can detect landmines, and a second one that can diffuse them. The unmanned vehicles are operated from a distance, without any danger to deminers. This process is a lot faster and cheaper than current methods. Mine Kafon’s mission is to clear all landmines from around the world within 10 years.
In an article by NOS they state their ambitious mission: "We want to make the world landmine-free, within ten years," Massoud said.
Mine Kafon Wind Powered Landmine Detector 3. | Photo credits: Mine Kafon2.
GCS
GCS is a company that produces remote-controlled demining platforms. They are used for the effective clearance of Anti-Personnel (AP) and Anti-Tank mines (AT), disposal of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The brand new machines have recently passed factory tests and several are being send to Ukraine. They are built to withstand demanding conditions and increase the speed of clearance in urban areas and the countryside.
Specialist Engineering Solutions. | Photo credits: GCS3.
All female team in Angola clearing landmines
Not all areas are suitable for deploying machines to do the landmine clearing. A lot of the work still has to be done by hand. It is a physically demanding job. That’s why in Angola it created the idea that demining work was unsuitable for women. An all women team successfully clearing the country of more than 1,100 active minefields that continue to claim lives, limit agriculture and stifle development, is proving otherwise.
Inês Tembo Chilumbo Chipuco, from HALO Angola's 100 Women in Demining, carefully excavates the ground where she has detected a signal, which could mean a landmine is hidden beneath the earth. | Photo credits: Scout Tufankjian for HALOCheck out the National Geographic documentary ‘into the fire’. It follows an all-female Yazidi deminers team in Iraq, in their attempts to clear the land of mines. After the terror campaign of ISIS, whereby the Yazidi minority was heavily prosecuted and suffered genocide, they return to their land to remove the explosive threats.
