Project News

To this day, the fear of land mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) left from war times in the 1970s and 1980s still haunts the Cambodians. Those explosives scatter all over the country and have caused hundreds of thousands of casualties. The clearance of remaining explosive remnants is an on-going effort in Cambodia to protect the lives and safety of citizens.

Under such a Cambodia-specific safety risk, the project also needs to consider the risk of UXOs in the proximity of its pilot Community Forestry (CF) - Phnom Ta Kong - in the implementation stage of its pilot activities, some of which require various scales of soil digging such as the setting up of boundary poles, the replacement of water pipes in the ground, the construction of a CF station, and the construction of pathway and ditch along the CF border.

To secure the safety for the pilot activities in Phnom Ta Kong CF, the project requested the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC) to conduct UXO clearance survey around the CF. In response to the request, CMAC has taken quick actions to verify the safety of the CF through site survey before enabling the project to begin the planned activities. Initially, in May 2022, a CMAC experts team organized a preliminary survey to observe the planned area for the implementation of the pilot activities. After the survey, following their advice, the project sent a request letter to CMAC headquarters to seek official support from the center to survey and clearance in the pilot site. The request was approved soon after submission to the letter.

As a result, in July 2022, a CMAC technical team from the Demining Unit in neighboring Preah Vihear province was dispatched to conduct survey and clearance on the target area for CF station and water pipeline construction. As a result of intensive survey, the area was not contaminated with UXOs. The project will start the construction of CF station and water pipeline - soon.

Meeting with CMAC experts (preliminary survey)

Site observation in Phnom Ta Kong (preliminary survey)

Site observation in Phnom Ta Kong (preliminary survey)

Setting up sign boards to show target area of survey (survey and clearance)

Detecting operation by an expert of CMAC survey team (survey and clearance)

CMAC survey team and provincial C/Ps of the project