Author(s):
Chayer Amelie <amelie@icbl.org> .
Sunday 05 July 2009
November 2008
Summary of the Extension Request
Duration of the proposed extension: 8 years
Reasons for the proposed extension: lack of funding to increase capacity; the terrain and the weather
Humanitarian, social, economic, and environmental implications of the extension: 43 communities are impacted with a population of 66,000; tourism, mining, fishing and oil exploration are affected.
Other relevant information: The revised budget submitted in September 2008 increased the budget by 58% or more than US$6 million.
A. Duration of the proposed extension
Ecuador is requesting an eight-year extension until September 2017. Although Ecuador submitted a revised request in July, it did not reduce the amount of time requested.
B. Background and reasons for the proposed extension
Ecuador established a mine action program in 1999 under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the assistance of the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS provides technical assistance and a consortium of Latin American countries (MARMINAS) under the auspices of the OAS provides quality control. Ecuador will increase the number of deminers from 60 to 100 deminers, which will be deployed in up to 10 demining teams.
The extent of the problem has been identified through information obtained from both the Peruvian and Ecuadorian armies and from surveys conducted in each of the six impacted provinces.
Ecuador has cleared only a very low 118,707m2 of land since 1999, destroying in the process 4,621 antipersonnel mines, 65 antivehicle mines and eight items of UXO in 53 mined areas. This represents extremely low rates of productivity. As a result, Ecuador still has up to 75 mined areas remaining, depending on the results of the ongoing survey of covering 498,533 m2, and believed to contain 5,923 antipersonnel mines and 30 antivehicle mines (Annex 2). The data is consistent with Article 7 reports.
The mined areas are described in detail for each of the six affected provinces. Maps are included in the request that show the locations of the mined areas. The revised extension request emphasizes the need for technical survey and the use of land release principles and puts less emphasis on the number of mines to clear. Almost half of the remaining areas to clear are in Coangos and Tiwintza districts of Morona Santiago province. If most of the estimated 228,000m2 in these two districts can be released through survey rather than clearance, Ecuador should be able to reduce the amount of time they have requested. Furthermore, Ecuador is also increasing the number of demining teams and changing the way they are structured.
Ecuador has reached an agreement with Peru on joint mine action in the common border areas, but it seems to be more significant as a political agreement between the two former adversaries than as a more efficient way of clearing landmines.
Ecuador lists several factors beyond their control that have led to a costly and very slow demining rate in the past ten years and argues that productivity in the next eight years will not change significantly. The factors are: extreme weather; high density of vegetation; tropical diseases (malaria); the need for mechanical clearance; difficult access to SHAs; poor communication systems in the mined regions; lack of precise coordinates on the location of the mines; irregular terrain; and large quantities of mineral stones detected as mines.
C. Humanitarian, social, economic, and environmental implications of the extension
The remaining mine-affected provinces are sparsely populated, containing less than 5% of the total population of the country. Some of the mined areas are marked but none are fenced. No incidents were reported in 2007. Nineteen casualties have been reported since 1995, with half the incidents occurring in 1995-1999, before mine clearance began. There are no concrete linkages to development although agriculture production, mining and tourism are affected and could expand if the area was cleared.
D. Other relevant information
In 1999-2008, the government contributed US$4.5 million, and $3.5 million was received from international sources, for a total of $8 million. In its original extension request Ecuador projected a need for $10.56 million for eight years, of which Ecuador would contribute $6.8 million. The revised budget submitted in September is for $16.71 million, with the Ecuadorian contribution increased to $8.64 million. In turn, requirements for international donor funding have also been raised to $8 million, an increase of 115% from the original extension request. In summary, the budget has increased by 58% or more than $6 million.
The revised budget has expanded from 11 to 18 lines with helicopter services and the increase in the government contribution, mostly for wages and salary for the additional demining teams accounting, as the main reasons for 75% of the $6 million increase. Based on the detailed budget Ecuador will pay for personnel and equipment, and international funds will be sought for operations.
E. Conclusions and recommendations
In terms of suspected mined area, Ecuador does not have a large landmine problem. Climate, terrain, logistics, and the economy are formidable obstacles that will continue to affect operations, but the request does not explain sufficiently why these difficulties prevented on-time completion nor why they would require Ecuador to take another eight years to clear the approximately 500,000m2 of remaining suspected mined areas. The amount of land planned to be cleared each year and the amount of mines expected to be found are very small relative to the amount of resources allocated and relative to minimum expected productivity rates.
Ecuador stated that it will increase the number of deminers to 100 in October 2009, and also has increased productivity with the acquisition of a machine to facilitate access to mined areas. This is clearly welcome. It is also expected that most of the estimated 228,000m2 in Coangos district in Morona Santiago will be able to be released through survey rather than clearance. According to the timeline, Ecuador plans to conduct so-called impact surveys in Coangos and Tiwintza districts in October-December 2009. ICBL recommends surveying this area be accorded high priority, and even be surveyed earlier than the end of 2009, to determine the true need for clearance.
Given the planned increases in the number of deminers and the likelihood that the suspected hazardous areas in Coangos district are smaller than presently estimated, the ICBL believes Ecuador should be strongly encouraged to complete its clearance obligations in less than the requested eight years. We are also concerned by the huge increase in the projected budget without any shortening of the time needed to clear all mined areas.
