Cambodia is one of the most landmine affected countries, and with over 25,000 amputees it has one of the highest ratio per capita in the world. Mines cause accidents and block valuable land for farming. This project will help us to clear landmines in Banteay Ti Muoy, a village in northwest Cambodia with 3,484 residents, where minefields severely affect people's safety and ability to farm. It helps buy tools andemploy locally recruited staff and to demine the approximately eight acres of minefie
Landmines are a constant danger for the villagers of Banteay Ti Muoy. The village is in Malai District which trails the rest of the country in nearly all metrics of socioeconomic development. 33% of families live in poverty and the population is growing rapidly as landless poor are displaced from richer areas of the country. This, and an overwhelming reliance on agriculture, means that people desperately need safe land and risk using mined land because they have no other options.
The project will employ locally recruited and trained villagers who will use metal detectors to methodically locate and destroy all landmines from minefields in Banteay Ti Muoy village. This will protect people from mine accidents and return land for agriculture, improving nutrition and incomes. It will also provide jobs in a community without many formal employment opportunities.
Landmines in Malai District have claimed hundreds of victims since the war ended, with the fall of the Khmer Rouge. But landmine clearance is a permanent and sustainable solution: once destroyed landmines are gone forever and the rich farmland will support farmers for generations.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
