Demining Clears 75,000 Hectares for Safer Communities

Demining teams cleared 75,132 hectares of contaminated land in six months, allowing communities in Cambodia to safely reclaim homes, schools, and essential infrastructure.

Heng Ratana, Director-General of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), said continued investment in research, innovation, artificial intelligence and new technologies, alongside stronger international cooperation, will help modernise the country’s demining operations.

From January to June, teams destroyed 20,861 explosive remnants of war and responded to 4,023 public emergency requests, while mine-risk education reached more than 1.37 million people. Clearance enabled 5,911 households to use 1,455 hectares of land safely and restored access to 87 schools, 20 health centres, six pagodas and 114 infrastructure projects. Since 1992, Cambodia has cleared more than 3,500 square kilometres of contaminated land, destroyed over 1.2 million landmines and removed more than 3 million unexploded ordnance items. These efforts have helped reduce annual mine casualties from more than 4,000 in the 1990s to fewer than 100 a year over the past decade, with Phnom Penh and 14 provinces now declared mine-free.