
An anti-personnel mine may cost less than $3 to manufacture and only a few cents to deploy. The cost of detecting, removing and destroying that same landmine can exceed $1,000. If the mine fulfills its destiny as a weapon, the human cost of repairing the damage is incalculable.
An estimated 50 million landmines remain emplaced in seventy countries around the world, along with countless pieces of unexploded ordnance. They claim a reported 12,000 casualties each year. The population of landmine survivors is roughly 300,000 and growing.
In recent years, the world has come together as never before to resolve the landmine crisis. In the past decade, the international community has launched or expanded mine-related activities in most of the world's post-conflict countries. More than 1,400 governments and organizations are now engaged in mine action, in demining, mine awareness and survivor assistance.
"First Steps" is an unprecedented exploration of mine clearance operations in the world's killing fields. X
First Steps
Killing Fields