Alternatives for landmine detection

Abstract : Antipersonnel mines remain a significant international threat to civilians despite recent intense efforts by the United States, other developed countries, and humanitarian aid organizations to clear them from postconflict regions. Mines claim an estimated 15,000-20,000 victims per year in some 90 countries. They jeopardize the resumption of normal activities-from subsistence farming to commercial enterprise-long after periods of conflict have ceased. For example, in Afghanistan during 2000, mines claimed 150-300 victims per month, half of them children. Although most of these mines were emplaced during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (from 1979 to 1988), they continue to pose a serious risk to returning refugees and have placed vast tracts of farmland off limits. The United States currently invests about $100 million annually in humanitarian mine clearance-the largest commitment of any country. Despite this investment and the funding from many other developed nations and nongovernmental organizations, at the current rate clearing all existing mines could take 450-500 years.