Kosovo Modified Landmine Impact Survey

Country: Kosovo Flag: Status: Past

Dates: Start: June 1999 End: March 2002

Donor: European Union Donor: Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Shortly after deploying the first-ever Landmine Impact Survey team to Yemen in July 1999, the European Union and the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) requested a survey of the Province of Kosovo in the former Republic of Yugoslavia. The mission: to classify affected communities in Kosovo by the severity of socio-economic impacts caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and develop a system for prioritizing the tasks that the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC) managed. The humanitarian microcosm of Kosovo offered a unique opportunity in the maturing Humanitarian Mine Action sector. The major threat of landmines and UXO was overcome within two and a half years, between mid-1999 and late-2001, whereas Humanitarian Mine Action programs in most other countries seem destined to continue for periods of two decades or more. In Kosovo, it was demonstrated that Humanitarian Mine Action management can be significantly enhanced with modern information management and decision support tools. Among iMMAP's many and diverse inputs to the process in Kosovo were:

• The rapid introduction of unique database software, the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), to serve as UNMACC's sole information management application.
• Intervention to develop impact founded priority scores and categories, together with operational data, supporting UNMACC's prioritized tasking system. In other words, identify the areas that need attention most urgently and allow UNMACC to task the necessary organizations to remove the threat rapidly

With the closing of the Kosovo UNMACC in December 2001, a unique opportunity to evaluate the influence that Landmine Impact Surveys exert on the actual behavior of HMA partners arose in Kosovo. This resulted in the publication of Decision Support for Mine Action by iMMAP.

Support to Lebanon Landmine Impact Survey

Country: Lebanon Flag: Status: Past

Dates: Start: March 2002 End: August 2003

Donor: European Union

Mines Advisory Group (MAG) conducted a Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) in Lebanon in collaboration with the Lebanese National Demining Office (NDO). Extensive technical assistance was provided by iMMAP beginning in spring 2002. The survey was completed in 2003, and was certified by the United Nations LIS Certification Committee in 2004. The extent and nature of the landmine problem in Lebanon was only partially known prior to this survey. The LIS is a valuable source of additional information regarding the impact of dangerous munitions on the lives of the Lebanese people. The final certified LIS report was published in August 2004.