Can Lebanon overcome the lingering threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance?

A year after the guns fell largely silent along Lebanon’s southern frontier, the war is still killing — quietly, indiscriminately, and often unseen. When the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, the country woke Read More …

Tracking the Invisible Threat: Persistent Explosive Residues in Raw and Drinking Water Bodies

This study provides a comprehensive nationwide assessment of explosive residues and their degradation products in French water resources and drinking water, including mainland and overseas territories. A total of 54 target compounds were selected based on historical usage, environmental persistence, Read More …

Deadly threat of unexploded bombs in the Pacific persists 80 years on

This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, but in some countries, the trail of death and destruction continues. Bombs, nearly a century old, are still exploding, killing and maiming people and contaminating land. Read More …

The challenge of explosive contamination in Iraq

Iraq’s history of conflicts – the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the Gulf War (1990–1991), the 2003 invasion, and the war against ISIS – has left the country heavily contaminated with explosive remnants. Cluster bombs, landmines, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons Read More …

Declassified satellite photos reveal impacts of Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped more than 8 million tons of bombs and sprayed 74 million liters of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Nearly 50 years after the war’s end, the deadly Read More …

MAG prepares for new contamination in Lebanon

Following the outbreak of conflict in Gaza on October 7, 2023, tensions have been escalating along the Blue Line – a 120-kilometre demarcation line established by the United Nations in 2000. In a region already grappling with explosive ordnance contamination Read More …

Why is Switzerland offering cash prizes to retrieve munitions from lakes?

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence Procurement (Armasuisse) is offering 50,000 Swiss francs ($57,800) for the three best ideas on how to retrieve some 12,000 tonnes of old munitions from the country’s lakes, including Lake Thun, Lake Brienz and Lake Read More …

Vietnam: VNMAC, UNDP, KOICA launch mine remediation project

The ceremony was co-organized by Vietnam National Mine Action Center (VNMAC) in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under the support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Attending the launching ceremony were Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant Read More …

Explosives remain in 5.6 million hectares in Việt Nam

Around 5.6 million hectares, equivalent to 17.71 per cent of Việt Nam’s total area, are still contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) as of the end of 2023. Việt Nam is among the countries with the highest rates of UXO contamination Read More …

Laos to carry out project to assist people affected by Agent Orange

The National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector (NRA) in Laos agreed to partner with the War Legacies Project, which will see Phase II of a survey on the use of Agent Orange and support for people with birth Read More …

Vietnam: A So airport cleared from dioxin contamination

The Chemical Command under the Ministry of Defence on October 24 announced the completion of dioxin cleanup at A So airport in A Luoi district, the central province of Thua Thien – Hue. Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, Deputy Read More …

US to arm Kyiv with depleted uranium tank shells

The US has announced it will send controversial weapons to Ukraine as part of more than $1bn (£800m) in military and humanitarian aid. Russia condemned the move to equip US Abrams tanks with shells strong enough to pierce conventional tank Read More …

‘Iron harvest:’ A Belgian team unearths unexploded ammunition from WWI

In a muddy field in Flanders, in northern Belgium, there are signs of a recent harvest along its edge — raw potatoes here and there. But toward the back of the field, members of DOVO, the Belgian military’s bomb disposal Read More …

US to provide depleted-uranium tank rounds to Ukraine

The United States is expected to approve the transfer of depleted-uranium anti-tank shells to help Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move follows weeks of internal discussions on the subject between the White Read More …

Ukraine says destruction of Kakhovka dam and flooding will not derail its counter-offensive

Kyiv has vowed that the destruction of the huge Nova Kakhovka dam and flooding of frontline areas in southeastern Ukraine will not derail its planned counter-offensive as it accused Russia’s occupation force of destroying the facility on the Dnipro river Read More …

The Radioactive Legacy of Depleted Uranium Ammunition Comes to Ukraine

The United Kingdom is sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine equipped with armor piercing depleted uranium rounds. Countries like the U.S., U.K., and Russia manufacture ammunition using depleted uranium because the metal is heavy and dense, making it ideal to Read More …

NATO Confirms To United Nations Use Of Depleted Uranium During Kosovo Conflict

GENEVA, 21 March (UNEP/HABITAT) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has confirmed to the United Nations that depleted uranium (DU) was used during the Kosovo conflict. But, according to the Joint UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force (BTF), the information provided Read More …

USAID to continue helping Việt Nam with post-war dioxin decontamination, mine clearance

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had a meeting with Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power in Washington DC on May 13 (US time), as part of his activities while on a working visit to Read More …

‘Everything Living Is Dying’: Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq

As far back as 2005, the United Nations had estimated that Iraq was already littered with several thousand contaminated sites. Five years later, an investigation by The Times, a London-based newspaper, suggested that the U.S. military had generated some 11 Read More …

The Victims of Agent Orange the U.S. Has Never Acknowledged

The main focus of the War Legacies Project is to document the long-term effects of the defoliant known as Agent Orange and provide humanitarian aid to its victims. Named for the colored stripe painted on its barrels, Agent Orange — Read More …