By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN Mine Action Service advisor in Ukraine, Paul Heslop on Friday reported that , overnight attacks continued in Ukraine resulted in 45 casualties and significant damage to civilian infrastructure.
He told reporters in New York that these are the results of the ammunition from last nights’ attacks, or at least from the munitions which exploded.
Paul Heslop described the impact of the unexploded ordnances which have contaminated large swaths of land in the country.
“Contaminated land is not just dangerous. It is lost hope, recovery and livelihood,” he said.
He noted that the contamination has spread throughout the territory, making it impossible for residents to return home and farmers to cultivate crops.
Children are often among the most vulnerable to unexploded ordnances, he added.
UNMAS and its partners on the ground are working diligently to comb over this land and declare it safe for returning residents and agricultural cultivation.
Mr. Heslop said that mMillions of mines and unexploded ordnances are scattered throughout Ukraine. This makes it the most heavily contaminated country since the end of the Second World War.
UNMAS estimates that over 20 per cent of land or 139,000 square kilometres in Ukraine is contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnances.
The agency said that over 6 million people live in or around contaminated areas and over 800 casualties due to unexploded ordnances have been documented.
Mr. Heslop noted that for every one square kilometre which is actually contaminated, there are 100 which are not. However, that does not mean that residents feel they can safely return to the land. This is the “perceived contamination” of unexploded ordnances.
UNMAS is working to identify which of the 139,000 square kilometres of potentially contaminated land is safe.
UNMAS estimated that 174,000 square kilometres in Ukraine were contaminated.
Some 35,000 square kilometres have been declared safe, enabling residents to go back to their communities.
The process of demining contaminated land either by removing unexploded ordnances or by scanning an area to declare it safe is especially important for families reliant upon agriculture, he said .
Ukraine’s agricultural sector has suffered $83.9 billion in losses, due in part to large swaths of agricultural land being contaminated with unexploded ordnances.
FAO has supported over 250,000 families through various programmes, including vouchers and seed distribution.
They have worked closely with UNMAS to clear agricultural land and return it to use.
UNMAS and its partners also have worked, over the last few years, to develop a system for demining which maximizes efficiency.
“Demining is an inherently inefficient process,” Mr. Helsop said.
The most thorough option for demining is the most time-consuming and expensive having a person walk the land with a detector.
UNMAS with 2 dozen Ukrainian Government entities have been working to implement satellite and artificial intelligence technology to make demining more time and cost effective.
“What we need to do is make sure the investment that is being made continues to deliver results and [is] enhanced moving forward,” he said.
Mr. Helsop compared demining in Ukraine to an elephant, called upon humanitarian agencies and donors to think about this large problem comprehensively.
He said that demining efforts are still being hampered by a lack of cohesion among groups on the ground, and by funding and personnel shortages. Donors have already committed $1 billion to fund demining efforts in Ukraine, but he said that the entire project would cost many billions.
Mr. Helsop reiterated the necessity of doing it, not only for the people in Ukraine whose livelihoods have been disrupted by contaminated land, but also for the world which has witnessed increased food and energy costs as a result of decreased agricultural production in the country.
He said know how to do it but we need the resources to do it and it’s going to be a slow and potentially dangerous process.” “But if we get it right, we will bring down global food and energy prices.”
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