In December 2023 APOPO hit a huge milestone: 100 million square meters of land released since they started demining — roughly the size of Paris. Over the years their teams removed 31,739 landmines, 90,140 explosive remnants of war, 36,205 small arms and ammunition items, and 2,731 cluster munitions, which they estimate has helped over 2 million people. Their programs go beyond clearance too, with mine-risk education, victim assistance, and community support to reduce casualties and boost local development.
They do it with a mix of tech and people — trained scent-detection animals (HeroRATs and HeroDOGs), manual deminers, and partners on the ground. Big country highlights: Cambodia ~49,986,416.3 sqm cleared (working with CMAC), Laos 22,358,870 sqm (project ended in 2014 due to funding but made big contributions), Mozambique 11,490,082 sqm (APOPO helped on the road to Mozambique’s 2015 declaration of being free of known landmines), Angola 8,198,287 sqm (working with national demining and agricultural partners), plus Azerbaijan 1,303,191; South Sudan 1,680,743; and Türkiye 641,029 sqm (including the country’s first two female civilian mine-dog handlers). Projects are usually done with national agencies, donors (like the EU in Azerbaijan), and local development partners.
What I love about this is that cleared land gets turned back into safe, usable space — farms, homes, even protected cultural sites like around Preah Vihear — so communities can rebuild. APOPO says they’re committed to keep going, and they rightly thank their mine-action teams, donors, and partners for making it possible.