MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK to begin Falklands de-mining; full clearance: 10 years

Ambassador John Duncan

The United Kingdom announced this week in Geneva it would begin mine clearance of three areas in the Falkland Islands and at the same time confirmed its request for a ten year extension for the full de-mining, as contemplated under the terms of the Ottawa convention.

"I am pleased to announce today that the UK has decided to proceed with the clearance of three mined areas in the Falkland Islands. These are: Fox Bay 8 (West); Goose Green 11; and Stanley Area 3, M25. These areas have been chosen because of their proximity to urban areas. In addition the variety of terrain they cover will serve as a means of testing the environmental and ecological impact of de-mining, which I have made clear are significant factors of concern", said UK Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador John Duncan. Ambassador John Duncan made the statement before the Ninth meeting of States Parties to the convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their destruction meeting in Geneva. "Based on the findings of the Feasibility Study the UK requested a ten-year extension as the report made clear that de-mining in the Falkland Islands would be challenging and full clearance would take at least ten years", revealed Ambassador Duncan. Further on he said that the suggestion "that we revise our request to seek a shorter extension may at first glance seem a reasonable alternative to some States Parties. However, it is worth bearing in mind that when possible the United Kingdom has endeavoured to complete work required under its convention obligations well within the formal deadline, as with destruction of our stockpiles. Ambassador Duncan said the United Kingdom has requested a ten year extension due to the complexity of the practical issues involved in carrying out actual de-mining in the Falklands adding they were explained at some length in the Joint (Argentina-UK) Feasibility Study. "Suggestions for possible approaches to re-vegetating any invasive mine clearance methods are only suggested and outlined based on experience and experiment gained within the UK environment?Very few, if any, trials of natural vegetation establishment have been undertaken on removed or deeply disturbed peat?. It is strongly recommended that experimental testing of all proposed approaches is undertaken on trial areas before extensive restoration are attempted", reads the Feasibility Study. It also points for the need of a strong caveat on mitigation proposals, and the remediation of land damaged by de-mining activities undertaken close to penguin rookeries. "Although there has been some experimental research on the effects of disturbance on penguin metabolic activity and breeding success including some assessment on the Islands, there are insufficient data to determine with accuracy the full environmental impact." Ambassador Duncan also indicated that the UK is fortunate that the humanitarian and socio-economic impact of the mined areas in the Falkland mined areas is negligible: following the clearance immediately following the conflict, there have been no casualties in the 25 years since the conflict and there is no economic pressure to re-claim the land. However by contrast many of the other countries seeking extension requests at the Meeting of States Parties have reported significant number of mine victims and provided compelling evidence of how de-mining has enabled socio-economic development that had hitherto not been possible. "This highlights the fact that priority should continue to be given to clearance of anti-personnel mines that continue to maim and kill", he emphasized. The Foreign Office official reaffirmed UK's full support to the Ottawa convention and its commitment to fulfil all its obligations. He explained that the United Kingdom together with Canada, Japan and Norway have collectively spent over 160 million US dollars last year to help those countries worst affected by landmines. He also spoke of the one million anti-personnel mines that have been destroyed from the UK's stockpile some three years before the required deadline under Article 4 of the convention.