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INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES (AUSTRALIA)
- A COLLOQUIUM -
TOWARDS OTTAWA AND BEYOND: DE-MINING THE REGION
The Environmental Impacts
Bruce Gray
Monday, 14 - 17 July 1997
International House
University of Sydney
Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant.
'they create a desolation and call it peace'
- Tacitus (55 or 56 - c. 120 CE)
[Agricola 30 in Mattingly 1977:81].
This article suggests an alternitve way of looking at the landmine problem. The author provides an environmental perspective to the global landmine crisisbased on notions of ecologically sustainable development.
Accordingly, the environment is seen as being crucially important to human well-being and livelihood: 'the "environment" is where we all live; and "development" is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable' [Brundtland in WCED 1991:xv]. Yet the environment does more than just provide a particular space and the resources to earn an income. It also provides an array of life support functions: the environment is a source of air, water, soil, nutrients, shelter, and natural resources. It also absorbs and recycles human wastes. Coming from this perspective, the author suggests that landmines pose yet another threat to the integrity of the environment. The additional impacts of landmines on the environment not only prejudice economic development, they also diminish the capacity of the environment to supply the very raw materials and natural resources necessary for that development.
This is not to diminish the humanitarian holocaust associated with these weapons. Few would deny that the '[t]he global problem of uncleared land-mines is one of the most widespread and serious humanitarian problems currently confronting the international community' [UNSG / Conf 7 / 2 1995:1]. What follows simply adds further weight to the call for a global ban on the production, stockpiling, trade, and use of landmines.
More than half a century after the battles for North Africa, the Egyptian Bedu still refer to the contaminated areas as "the fields of the devil" and avoid the 75 000 km2 area polluted by the British, German, French, and Italian landmines laid during the North Africa campaign [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:15, Partsch 1984:386 & 387; Westing 1985:4; MacLeod 1993:34; Donovan 1994:30]. And the deadly plague of landmines is spreading! The landmine-contaminated badlands of the post-War era are a spreading desolation: the "fields of the devil" now stretch around the world and constitute an environmental and humanitarian disaster that is reaching pandemic dimensions. The UN has stated that '[t]he global problem of uncleared land-mines is one of the most widespread and serious humanitarian problems currently confronting the international community' [UNSG / Conf 7 / 2 1995:1]. Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former UN Secretary-General, has referred to the growing problem as 'a global landmine crisis' [1994:8] and said that '[u]nlike other types of weapons, uncleared land-mines constitute a unique and malignant threat to whole societies' [UNGA 49 / 357 1994:3]. This has led US State Department officials to write: '[l]andmines may be the most toxic and widespread pollution facing mankind' [USDoS 1993:2; Davies, Dunlop, & McGrath 1994:1].
The relationship between humans and the environment is a profoundly important one. Yet we often ignore the fact - at our peril - that the biosphere provides us with our life support requirements. It nourishes us and feeds us. It houses us, clothes us, and provides us with the basic ingredients for our economic and spiritual well-being. And it also provides us with our place and space: room to grow and develop. Without these environmental goods and services, we become ill or injured and die. It is worth pointing out that this relationship between humans and the environment is intrinsically ecological: our economic, political, socio-cultural, technological, health, and ecological systems are all based on intimately and intricately inter-related cycles of energy, water, carbon, sulphur, nitrogen, and nutrients. These inter-dependent systems combine and interact to form "our environment" [Leopold 1989:216, Handcock & Perkins 1989:8-10; Odum 1989; Chu 1994:3; Labonte 1994:19; McMichael 1994:11].
This inter-relationship is an integral component of the human ecosystem. Put another way, humans, their culture, their health, and their environment are all inter-related parts of the same ecosystem. Beaglehole, Bonita, and Kjellström state that:
[t]he human environment consists of very basic elements: the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, the climate surrounding our bodies, and the space available for our movement. In addition, we exist in a social and spiritual environment, which is of great importance for our mental and physical health. Most diseases are either caused or influenced by environmental factors [(my emphasis) 1993:117].
The integrated, holistic approach outlined above implies that a diverse, healthy, safe environment is an important factor in determining human health and well-being. In short, there is an '... intimate relationship between the biosphere's natural systems and our biological health' [McMichael 1993:297]; or as Mostafa Tolba (an ex-Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme) puts it, '[a]ll constituents of the environment of our planet ultimately exert an influence on human health and well-being' [1992:198]. This point is reinforced by the belief that: Human health, the environment and the economy are inextricably linked ... we exist not simply as individuals, but also as highly active parts of an ecosystem that is itself alive and finite. The health of the environment determines the health and safety of not only ourselves, but of our children, and of theirs, and of theirs to follow [Canada's Green Plan, 1990 in McMichael 1993:296].
Thus McMichael's "intimate relationship" is one of profound inter-dependence: our environment directly effects not only our personal and communal health and well-being, but that of our children and grandchildren as well.
It is becoming increasingly clear that human activities have reached a point where we are altering the biosphere's life support systems. We now realise that anthropogenic pollution can lead to environmental degradation and ecological collapse; and that degraded environments directly threaten human health and well-being:
Man [sic] is both a creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale. Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights - even the right to life itself [Stockholm Declaration 1972 in Tolba 1992:vii].Brundtland [in WCED 1991:xv-xvi & 3], Käkönen [1992:1-3], and Tolba [1992:vii] all point out, that environmental problems have their origins in economic, philosophical, political and social practices. The authors of a Peace Research Institute of Oslo report extend this by linking poverty, politics, security, and the environment:
[i]ncreasing levels of insecurity and instability within and among countries have stemmed from environmental stress and degradation, caused by disruption of the environment through armed conflict, excess pollution, and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources [Gebremedhin et al. 1989:6 & 9],
and:
it is clear that politico-military, environmental, economic, and social problems are all interconnected. ... Especially in the Third World, environmental degradation may be the cause of armed conflict; it may be the consequence of armed conflict, subsequently leading to conflict escalation; and it may exacerbate conflicts originating for other reasons. Conversely, policies that ensure sustainable development of natural resources and preservation of a healthy habitat may remove sources of conflict [Gebremedhin et al. 1989:12].
Landmines provide a clear example of this inter-connectedness.
Rae McGrath stated that:
[i]n many of the poorest countries of the developing world mines are not merely instrumental in denying vital land to farmers, pastoralists and retunring refugees, but have covered large tracts of the earth's surface with non-biodegradable and toxic garbage [McGrath in Davies, Dunlop, and McGrath 1994:121; McGrath 1997:10-11].
But are mines really a form of pollution? Technically, "pollution", according to David Meagher's Dictionary of the Australian Environment, is defined as:
[t]he presence in the environment of any substance or energy that is of sufficient concentration, or that is present for a sufficient period, to be harmful or offensive to humans or likely to cause damage or unnatural change in the environment, through the activity of humans [1991:251].
Mines clearly fall into this category. While few people would argue with the notion that mines represent a serious danger to human health, only a small minority currently view them as a pollutant. Yet by adopting the conceptual underpinnings outlined above, it becomes possible - even imperative - to view landmines (and, for that matter, all unexploded ordnance) as a profound, long-term environmental threat to human health and well-being; and thus as a form of highly toxic pollution.
The effects of this kind of pollution are profound. For example, mines are a major contributor to economic and social impoverishment. According to Giannou and Geiger,
[t]he widespread use of land mines in impoverished agrarian societies, in which family and community survival are dependent on subsistence farming, creates multiple crises: psychological damage, social ostracism, and economic hardship of amputees; loss of productivity of farm care-takers, removal of hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land from safe use for decades; and disruption of transportation and agricultural markets [1995:141].
Supporting this, Tolba states that landmines 'have endangered people, livestock and wildlife, and hindered the development of vast areas of land' [1992:213]. The UN concludes that because the natural environment constitutes the basis of all social life and economic development, the direct damage caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) may destroy the basis for socio-economic development in badly affected countries. Even the mere suspicion of mines prevents people using their natural resources by denying access to that component of the environment [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:13; Westing et al. 1985:123]. In summary, according to the UN: unexploded remnants of war endanger people, livestock, and wildlife; impede the development of an economic infrastructure ([such as] roads, power and telephone lines, airports, etc.); make land unsafe to farm or irrigate, and hamper mineral exploration [Westing et al. 1985:123].
For example, 33% of Libya's entire land mass is considered to be dangerous because of mines and UXO left over from World War II. More significantly perhaps, 27% of Libya's arable land has been confirmed as contaminated by landmines, while 68% of arable land is suspected to be contaminated [UNGA / 38 /383 1983:13 - 14; Westing et al. 1985:123]. This means that only 32% of Libya's agricultural land is considered safe enough to plough! Unfortunately, the targeting of infrastructure and natural resources is deliberate. The UN notes that:
[i]t is common in many conflicts for key elements of the national infrastructure to be mined by both sides to the conflict. Roads, power lines, electric plants, irrigation systems, water plants, dams, and industrial plants are often mined during civil conflicts. In the aftermath of those conflicts, it is often impossible to approach such facilities to repair them or to conduct needed maintenance. As a consequence, the delivery of electricity and water becomes more sporadic and often ceases in heavily mined areas. Irrigation systems become unusable, with consequent effects on agricultural production. Transportation of goods and services is halted on mined roads and the roads themselves begin to deteriorate. Local businesses, unable to obtain supplies or ship products, cease operation. Unemployment in those areas increases and the prices for scarce goods tends to enter an inflationary spiral, increasing the cycle of misery. In those areas dependent upon outside aid for sustenance, the mining of roads can mean a sentence to death by starvation [UNGA / 49 / 357 1994:6].
Kenneth Anderson (the Director of The Arms Project of Human Rights Watch and principal editor of Landmines: A Deadly Legacy) has noted that because mines are often laid in areas of human occupation, landmine pollution has the effect of "pushing" people from their traditional lands into refugee camps. Refugees, unable to return to their contaminated lands, are often forced out into otherwise unused or marginal land [Anderson 1995:21]), placing additional pressure on already fragile environments. Roberts and Williams reach a similar conclusion:
[p]opulations with mine-limited access to agricultural or grazing land are pushed onto increasingly fragile, marginal lands, furthering the land's rapid degradation. In some instances, where water resources have been mined, traditional rangelands have been affected, causing over-exploitation of fragile areas [1995:11].
Where mine contamination disrupts traditional subsistence agriculture, the problem is further compounded when whole societies are forced to move into urban environments, contributing to overcrowded housing, congested traffic, unemployment, urban air and noise pollution, and problems with water supply, sanitation, and household waste disposal [Roberts and Williams 1995:11 & 179].
The effects on the natural environment are equally profound. A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report to the UN General Assembly concluded that mines adversely affect ecological processes by disturbing the soil, destroying vegetation, and killing flora and fauna [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:11 & 12; Westing et al. 1985:121]. Landmines (as well as UXO) also introduce poisonous substances into the environment as their casing corrode and decay [UNEP / GC / 103 1977:2; UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:11; Westing et al. 1985:121]. Mines commonly use 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX, or "Cyclonite"), or tetryl as high explosive fillers; and these substances can leach into the surrounding soil and water as the metal or timber casings disintegrate. These substances, and the compounds derived from them as they decompose, are soluble in water, long-lived, carcinogenic, and quite toxic - even in small quantities [UNEP / GC / 103 1977:2; UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:12; Westing et al. 1985:122; Patterson et al. 1996:361; Toze et al. 1996:416]. For example, both TNT and RDX are lethal to mammals, aquatic micro-organisms, and some fish (RDX is particularly toxic to mammals [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:12; Westing et al. 1985:122].
The impacts of sporadic landmine detonations on soil and vegetation are also deleterious. Not only do mines destroy flora, they also shatter the soil structure thereby lowering soil productivity. A UNEP report into the environmental effects of the Iraq-Kuwait conflict concluded that mines caused:
irreversible damage to ecosystems, including prolonged direct damage to soil through shattering and displacement, destruction of soil structure, and increased vulnerability of soil to water and wind erosion [UNEP 1991 in UNICEF 1994:37].
Furthermore, mine clearance can be equally similarly [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:11, Westing et al. 1985:122]. According to UNEP, the most environmentally damaging of all the explosives used on land in the Gulf War were the fuel-air explosive bombs used to clear minefields. They pulverised what little top soil existed and destroyed any vegetation that had established itself [Cave 1991 in UNEP 1991:45; Roberts & Williams 1995:262]. Supporting these views, the Director of UNEP has stated that '[m]ines and unexploded ordnance pose one of the most serious and potentially long-lasting threats to the environment of Kuwait' [UNEP 1991:9 & UNYB 1991:506].
Vietnam provides another example of the environmental damage caused by mines. According to Jim Monan's [1994:13] case study on landmines and underdevelopment in Quang Tri province (central Vietnam), the sporadic detonation of mines and UXO throughout Gio Linh and Vinh Linh districts have effectively destroyed the fertile topsoil (the O to A horizon of soils), dramatically reducing the soil's productivity. The result is a 50% reduction in rice production per hectare [Monan 1994:13, Monan 1997:13].
Furthermore, the destruction of vegetation cover and topsoil by mines and UXO, coupled with deforestation (resulting from the use of defoliants such as Agent Orange), has a cumulative effect. Reduced water retention in mountainous regions results in flooding and topsoil erosion on the coastal plains [Monan 1994:13, Monan 1997:13]. The disruption to the soil structure further exacerbates the erosion problem, which leads to an increased sediment load in the drainage system (and increased sedimentation in coastal waters, which can adversely affect fish and prawn habitats). The extensive use of landmines accelerates deforestation. In areas where agricultural and grazing land has been mined, forests often become the only source of fuel and livelihood. Valuable forests and fruit trees are speedily striped and felled for firewood and building material.
Deforestation, in turn, affects drainage systems, water tables, wetlands, coastal mangroves and dune systems, all of which has an adverse impact on fish and other wildlife [Roberts & Williams 1995:11, 93, 179, & 247]. Turkey provides a further example. In the Munzur Mountains in Turkey's eastern province of Tunceli, landmines are said to be destroying large swathes of the national park's fragile environment through a combination of shattering of the soil structure, destruction of vegetation and ground cover, and by starting fires [Reuters 1997].
There is a significant cost in livestock associated with landmines. In Libya for example, over the forty years between 1940 and 1980, more than 125 000 camels, sheep, goats, and cattle have been killed by mines and other UXO (this equates to approximately one animal per 1 000 per annum) [UNGA / 38 / 383 1983:16; Sgaier 1985:36; Westing et al. 1985:126]; while Aqa states that:
[t]here have also been about 264 000 goats and sheep killed in Afghanistan, at a value of about $31.6 million dollars. The same holds for cows, horses, camels, and vehicles. The total direct cost of damage caused by mines to animals and vehicles comes to about $155 million [1994:24].
In subsistence pastoral and agricultural societies where personal wealth is often measured in livestock, the economic and social impacts on family structures of livestock losses of this magnitude can be devastating. In addition to livestock, rare and endangered species are threatened by mines. While the effects of landmines on non-human species are at this point in time far from clear, preliminary studies conducted by UNEP [UNEP / GC / 103 1977:2; UNGA / 38 383 1983:6-16; Westing et al. 1985:117-136; UNEP 1991], as well as anecdotal evidence [Spinney 1994:12; Fraser 1995; Monan 1995; Pearce 1995:42; & Roberts and Williams 1995:11 & 247], indicate that these effects are highly deleterious. Landmines are an extra burden to already threatened species and habitats. Mines have killed many animals, including elephants in Africa and Sri Lanka, eradicated gazelles from parts of Libya, pushed snow leopards to the brink of extinction in Afghanistan, and killed one of the few remaining male silver-backed mountain gorillas in Rwanda [Roberts & Williams 1995:11].
This has led Anderson to declare that '[t]he effects of land mines as a pollutant in the environment are only just nowbeginning to be understood. It is a long-lived pollution, one that requires physical cleansing of the earth to eliminate' [1995:21]. Unfortunately however, as Jan Eliasson (United Nations Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs) explains, [l]and mines are recognised as having a devastating environmental impact. Their severe and long-term effect on land usage, water supply, and infrastructure make them among the most toxic of all man-made pollutants. ... Land mines ... degrade very slowly and render land and other natural resources unusable for years, even generations [1995:176].
As such, landmines clearly represent an important international environmental issue that is only now beginning to receive significant attention. Equally clearly, the indiscriminate use of landmines constitutes an ecological, economic, and social problem of crisis proportions. They have profound adverse impacts on human well-being by denying access to natural resources, movement, subsistence living, and economic development.
While landmine pollution is catastrophic in human and environmental terms, unfortunately the financial cost of a global mine clearance programme is prohibitively high. Using current equipment and techniques, the time, cost, and danger involved in demining are staggering: mine clearance experts estimate that adequately trained and equipped personnel can clear 20 - 50 m2 per person per day, while the ratio of time taken to lay a mine against the time it takes to locate and destroy the mine in situ is around 1:100 [Anderson et al. 1993:235; Goose 1995:16].
The UN states that the costs associated with clearance, including training, support, and logistics, are 'estimated at between USD$300 and USD$1,000 per mine' [Boutros-Ghali 1994:11; ICRC 1993:4; ICRC 1994a:40; UNGA / 49 / 357 1994:7; USDoS 1994:1; Goose 1995:16; ICRC 1995:2; UNSG / Conf. 7 / 2 1995:3 & 7]. Thus it would require, at a minimum, USD$33 000 000 000 - USD$110 000 000 000 to clear the 110 000 000 mines already polluting the globe - assuming no more were laid [O'Brien 1994:1522; UNGA / 49 / 357 1994:7; Goose 1995:16; ICRC 1995:5]. Even on a yearly basis, the costs associated with landmine pollution are prohibitive: the UN estimated that it would require USD$153 000 000 to run all of its demining programmes and projects in 1995, and stated that '[a]s significant as this global budget is for assistance in mine clearance, this figure is miniscule when compared with the estimated $57 billion it will cost to remove the 110 million estimated land-mines currently in place' [UNSG/Conf.7/2 1995:8].
Even more appalling then is the fact that mines are still being laid. Despite the removal of around 100 000 mines worldwide in 1993 (at a cost of USD$70 000 000), at least another 2 500 000 mines were laid. This clearance deficit of 2 400 000 mines added somewhere between USD$720 000 000 and USD$2 400 000 000 to the cost of clearing the world's landmine pollution [Muller 1994:1; Renner 1994:20; UNGA / 49 / 357 1994:7; UNHCR / Ref / 1084 1994:1; USDoS 1994:1; Williams 1994b:4; Goose 1995:13 & 16; ICRC 1995:1 & 5; Williams 1995:2]. Substantiating this deficit, the UN declares that in 1994:
all the mine-clearance operations world wide found and destroyed an estimated 100,000 land-mines - a mere fraction of the estimated number currently deployed. While such efforts were ongoing, it is estimated that between 2 million and 5 million new land mines were laid in 1994 conflicts in States in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and South-East Asia. ... Under present conditions, for each 2 million newly laid land-mines (which is the lowest current estimated rate of mining world wide), an additional burden of at least $600 million is imposed upon the world community for their removal [UNSG / Conf. 7 / 2 1995:1 & 9].
This is a particularly ominous situation, given that the UN's International Meeting on Mine Clearance, held in Geneva from 5 - 7 July 1995, raised only USD$20 500 000 for mine clearance activities. Rae McGrath, from the Mines Advisory group, concludes:
If the poor were being maimed and killed in such numbers by any other means - by disease, floods or earthquake - it would be possible to raise relief funds and organise international action to halt the carnage. The truth is that few understand the scale of the problem: the human suffering, rural economic decline, and environmental devastation caused by landmines. This is not just a heartless lack of response, it is also foolish negligence because the eventual cost to us all will be far greater than the cost of eradicating the mines [1994:iv].
Information regarding the consequences of landmine contamination is only just beginning to emerge. While quantitative health impact studies are scarce, recent studies by Adams & Schwab [1988:S159-S162], Coupland & Korver [1991:1509-1512], Anderson et al. [1993:121-125], ICRC [1994:14-21], McGrath [1994:26-29], Giannou & Geiger [1995:140-141] provide some insights into the medical problems associated with the treatment of landmine injuries. More revealing and statistically robust epidemiological / health impact studies have been undertaken by King [1992], Anderson et al. [1993:125-129], Davies, Dunlop, & McGrath [1994:110-120], ICRC [1994b:18-21], Thann [1994], Giannou & Geiger [1995:141-143], and Roberts & Shaw [1995]. These studies indicate that mines impact on individuals, communities, physical infrastructure, and the environment in an array of different ways. At the personal level, the formidable and traumatic nature of landmine injures have a huge impact on the victim (if they survive), the victims family, and scarce medical resources.
Mines cause a horrifying number of casualties. The former UN Secretary-General, Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, estimates that '30 people are killed daily by uncleared land-mines, and perhaps as many as 60 people are maimed'. The appalling reality is that between 70 and 90 people a day are killed or injured - approximately one person every 20 minutes - and for every survivor, up to two die. In some countries 75% of survivors require amputations. The French organisation Handicap International estimates that at present 1 400 people are killed and 780 are injured by landmines each month. This equates with a Hiroshima every five and a half years! This statement is based on the very conservative estimate of 80 000 people killed (20-30% from flash burns, 15-20% from radiation) and 70 000 people injured in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 [Royde-Smith in Goetz 1980:1013; Ohkita 1985; Butcher 1995:1; Donnett 1995:14; Middleton 1995:258], and is compared with 2 180 people killed or injured every month by landmines, which corresponds with 26 160 persons killed or injured per year [HI 1993:25].
The massive costs associated with medical-rehabilitative support and mine clearance are in stark contrast with a purchase cost of USD$1.00 - USD$3.00 for a Chinese Type 72 anti-personnel blast mine, USD$5.80 for a Brazilian APNM AE T1 anti-personnel mine, USD$6.00 for a Russian / ex-Soviet / ex-Warsaw Pact PMN, USD$6.15 for an Italian VS-50 all-plastic anti-personnel device, USD$6.70 for a Belgian NR 25 (which sells in lots of 5,000), USD$6.75 for a Pakistan Ordnance Factories' P4 Mk 2 anti-personnel blast mine, USD$41.00 for a modern Valmara 69 bounding fragmentation mine, USD$79.29 for the US M18A1 "Claymore" with its accessories, and USD$78.00 for the most expensive Asian mine, Chartered Industries of Singapore's STM-1 plastic anti-tank mine [Anderson et al. 1993:56; ICRC 1993:4; MacLeod 1993:36; Boutros-Ghali 1994:11; ICRC 1994:24; Goose 1995:15; Maddocks 1995:111, Hurley 1996:434].
There exists a clear nexus between environment and human health. This relationship is principally ecological, in that human health and well-being are heavily influenced by the environment and biospheric processes. Landmines constitute a highly toxic form of pollution and represent a significant risk to human health. Landmines continue to maim and kill civilians long after hostilities haveofficially ceased. Mine blast injuries place a tremendous imediate burden on health care resources. This burden is further compounded by the costs of rehabilitative support for mine victims. Mines render vast tracts of agricultural land unusable and prevent refugees from returning to their homes. Mines are often laid on and around roads, bridges, electricity lines, generators, water points, police stations, schools, hospitals, and homes to target civilian populations and prevent economic development. In addition, the costs associated with mine clearance are beyond the worlds capacity to pay. In short, landmines have profoundly adverse impacts on human well-being by denying access to natural resources, by effectively preventing subsistence living, by destroying transportation systems, and denying economic development.
Furthermore, mines place an added burden on the environment through five mechanisms: they deny access to natural resources, they promote the rapid and unsustainable exploitation of marginal and ecologically fragile environments, they deplete biological diversity by destroying flora and fauna, they contaminate the surrounding soil and water with highly toxic substances, and they destroy the ecosystem itself by disrupting soil and water processes. Thus landmines are directly affecting the terrestrial environment, upon which all humans depend for their lives, livelihoods, and well-being.
In conclusion, uncleared landmines constitute a unique and malignant threat to whole societies and the environments on which these societies depend for life support and economic development [UNGA / 49 / 357 1994:3]. Landmines are, therefore, one of '... the most toxic and widespread pollution facing mankind' [USDoS 1993:2; Davies, Dunlop, & McGrath 1994:1].
Bad Code can really spoil your day.
Validate your webpages!