The Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA), through the United Nations Mine Action Service, supports the Government of Afghanistan in its efforts to make Afghanistan free of mines and explosive remnants of war. The program is now moving away from United Nations coordination to one run by the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) and the Department of Mine Clearance (DMC).

The Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) funding supports MAPA's work in:

• Demining operations.
• Mine risk education.
• Victim assistance.
• Maintaining standards and developing accreditation methods for mine action activities.

Important improvements have been achieved by MAPA, such as returning land to communities and allowing development, including agricultural development, to take root. Since 1989, almost 1.3 billion square meters of land have been released to communities as a result of mine clearance and land surveying. That land is now available for Afghans to use for growing food to feed their families and produce to sell to market, as well as providing livestock a place to graze.

In the countryside southeast of Kabul, a de-miner works to clear mines. He is wearing protective equipment made in Ontario.

© CIDA/ACDI : Pedram Pirnia

Refugees visit a mine awareness exhibit at a refugee camp.

© CIDA/ACDI : Pedram Pirnia

This women explains how explosive devices can look like everyday items.

© CIDA/ACDI : Pedram Pirnia

Canada’s contribution to MAPA has helped enable the following:

• More than 60 percent of all suspected hazards discovered to date have been cleared. This percentage includes the clearing of all known explosive devices within urban areas.
• More than 650 square kilometres have been cleared nationwide of mines and explosive remnants of war.
• In 2010/11, 33,597 Anti-Personnel mines, 1,104 Anti-Tank mines, and 1,023,826 Explosive Remnants of War destroyed.
• In 2010/11, 184 communities cleared of mines and other explosive remnants of war.
• In 2010/11, 469,078 women and girls and 654,562 men and boys received mine risk education throughout the country.

• United Nations Mine Action Centre