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General Mine Action Assessment
Extracts from IMAS 08.10
2nd Edition, January 2003

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of a general mine action assessment is to continually gather, evaluate, analyse and make available sufficient information to assist and update the strategic planning of a national mine action programme. It should provide a source of continually updated data on the nature and extent of the hazards and hazardous areas, the impact of such hazards at community and country level, and other important planning information such as local soil characteristics, vegetation and climate, and safe access routes and local facilities such as water and medical support. The general mine action assessment should also provide an inventory of national capabilities and potential to implement national mine action projects and to support the work of external organisations and agencies.

The scope and extent of the general mine action assessment depends on many factors, including the availability of (and access to) existing information, the local security situation, and the human and financial resources available. Its scope and thoroughness will also depend on the urgency and need for planning information. The process of gathering information carried out in the early stages of an emergency programme will be quite different in form and detail to those conducted as part of a more stable developmental mine action programme.

General Principles

Although general mine action assessments will vary significantly in terms of scope, complexity and duration, four general principles apply:

1. The general mine action assessment forms part of a national mine action programme, or in some cases, (on a limited scale) may precede a national mine action programme. It should therefore be controlled by the national mine action authority or by an agency or organisation acting on behalf of the national mine action authority. The national mine action authority should normally be custodian of the data, reports and related products such as maps;
2. The general mine action assessment is not merely a “snap-shot” of the situation on a particular date. It is a continuous process that aims to collect and to refine relevant information. As such, a general mine action assessment should use systems and methods which are robust and sustainable;
3. Government departments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), commercial demining contractors and other organisations operating within a mine-affected country shall assist the general mine action assessment by providing access to information and by giving practical support, if needed. This requires a unity of purpose and effort, and a willingness to cooperate—or at least not to hinder the work of staff gathering information for the general mine action assessment;
4. Whenever possible, information collected during the general mine action assessment should not be restricted or sensitive. The use of unclassified material will assist and encourage the wide distribution of survey reports, maps, data and assessments. But there will be occasions when information is provided with national security implications, and with restrictions on its further distribution. Such information may be provided by national authorities who perceive the information to have some military security value, or by members of former warring factions or others who wish to remain anonymous. The use of such information, and its exploitation, should be considered by national mine action authorities in a case-by-case basis. Where information collected is not sensitive or restricted, it should be made widely available to all stakeholders.

Throughout the general mine action assessment process, major principles of mine action, such as capacity building and information sharing, should always remain a major priority.

Planning and Preparation

Careful planning and preparation is essential in order to ensure that the general mine action assessment objectives can be achieved with the resources available and in a timely manner. All possible sources of information should be considered. Survey or assessment teams will provide the principal sources of information.

Local information-gathering teams may not exist and will need to be established, trained, equipped and briefed. Valuable information may also be obtained from technical sources such as satellite images, aerial photographs, military dossiers and hospital records. Special arrangements should be established and procedures should be developed, including the use of liaison officers to improve access to such information and data collection techniques and methodologies for collection.

The relationship between the three categories of information (the mine/UXO threat, its impact and general planning data) should be addressed fully during the planning stage. It will normally be appropriate to collect all three categories of information at the same time, but in such circumstances, the specialist skills needed to analyse and interpret the different sets of data must be included in the joint project team.

Collection

The second stage involves the collection of information. Wherever possible, the original documentation (such as maps, minefield records, questionnaires, interview notes and satellite imagery) should be retained, although additional information may be added for clarity or amplification. However, no formal attempt should be made at this stage to analyse or interpret the information as this may lead to early and false deductions being drawn from an incomplete set of data; and these deductions may, in turn, influence the way in which the remaining information is collected and interpreted. (The teams will obviously be sensitive to the information they obtain, and may need to act on such information in order to save life or improve operational efficiency.)

The type and detail of the data collected will vary and should be appropriate to its intended use. There will be the obvious constraints of time and resources, but the general mine action assessment should aim to implement as comprehensive a system of data collection as early as possible.

The general mine action assessment shall, inter alia, collect information on:

1. The numbers, locations and livelihoods of communities at risk and otherwise affected by the presence, or perceived presence, of mine and UXO hazards. This should include details such as access to drinking water, housing and shelter, productive land, roads, and infrastructure. It should identify the numbers and demography of mine victims and survivors, and the availability of victim assistance.
   It should include an assessment of the ability of the affected communities to cope and adapt to the threat. Guidelines on the collection, collation and subsequent evaluation of such information (the “impact” survey) will be given in Technical Notes for Mine Action (TNMA) 08.10 series; Note: The United Nations subscribes to the methodology of the impact component of the general mine action assessment in TNMA 08.10 series. In order to enable a consistent, global picture to be developed of the impact of landmines on communities, the United Nations will certify those surveys conducted in accordance with this methodology. Certification guidelines will be applied using quality assurance monitors.
2. The extent of the national mine and UXO threat, in order to assess the amount and type of resources needed to remove (or at least to reduce) the risk through hazard marking, risk education and education, and/or clearance.
3. The approximate location and extent of each suspected or confirmed hazard area in order to locate it safely and quickly at some later stage, in order to conduct a technical survey and/or clearance.
4. The local terrain, including ground profile, soil type, soil contamination (mineral and scrap metal), drainage, vegetation (type and density) and access, in order to describe in general terms the technical factors which will influence the resources required for clearance.
5. The mine and UXO types and density. The detail collected as part of the general mine action assessment need only be sufficient to assess in general terms the resources required for clearance. More detailed information on the density and depth of the mines and UXO in each hazardous area shall be collected during the technical survey (should one be conducted). Furthermore, personnel conducting such general assessments are unlikely to be trained or equipped to enter suspected mined areas, so the nature and accuracy of the information sought should be commensurate with the resources available.
6. The anti-personnel mine (APM) stockpile situation. This should include quantities, locations, stability in storage, storage conditions, technical data and any proposed destruction methodologies.

The general mine action assessment should also collect information on:

1. The condition and potential of the local infrastructure (including logistic facilities, transportation, communications and medical facilities), which could be used to support technical survey and/or clearance projects.
2. The availability of suitable local staff for employment such as deminers, support staff and management.
3. The local climate (rainfall, temperature and humidity) and its potential impact on technical survey and/or clearance projects.

The information should be collected in a systematic manner. Wherever possible, use should be made of standard and proven information management systems and GIS, such as the IMSMA.

Collation and Evaluation

Collation is the procedure for receiving, sorting and recording all information collected from all sources, both planned and unplanned. A collation system should be simple to operate and maintain, and require minimum staff effort. Wherever possible, use should be made of standard and proven information management systems and GIS, such as IMSMA.
Evaluation occurs concurrently with collation. It involves the assessment of each piece of information as it is received for its relevance, accuracy and duplication. Obvious errors such as transposed grid references should be corrected.

Each source of information should be assessed in terms of its proven reliability and credibility. It is most important to reduce uncertainty and to correct inaccuracies at this stage. Inaccurate and misleading data will impact on later stages of the process and may reduce confidence in other (and more accurate) information collected during the survey. Greater effort at this stage enables resources to be focused more effectively on follow-on activities such as mine risk education, technical survey and clearance projects.

Organisations should remain vigilant to the risk of database “contamination” with unsubstantiated information. A system of credible verification of information must be adopted in order to avoid unnecessary clearance operations for land that should never have been classified as mine affected in the first place.

Analysis, Integration and Interpretation

Analysis involves the detailed examination of each piece of information, once it has been evaluated, to identify significant facts and to draw appropriate conclusions. At this stage, it may be considered necessary to revisit the source of information to confirm its accuracy or completeness. Integration involves the detailed examination of two or more pieces of information to establish patterns and to draw conclusions. Examples are the integration of aerial photographs showing evidence of significant military activity, with unconfirmed reports from local communities or the integration of information from bomb-damage assessment folders with UXO casualty data.

Interpretation is a systematic process that leads to deduction. It relies on experience, professional judgment and an understanding of the local context in which the data was collected. New information is compared with what is already known or suspected. This may increase confidence in the reliability of a source of data, or it may raise new questions or uncertainty.

Effective analysis, integration and interpretation require specialist skills such as photographic/imagery interpreters, linguists and experienced deminers. Such skills may be in short supply and will take time to obtain suitably qualified specialists.

This stage of the process should be well-documented with assumptions clearly stated and reasons given for all deductions and conclusions. This provides an “audit trail” which can be re-visited should new information become available or should assumptions subsequently be challenged, revised or refined.

Dissemination

Dissemination involves the publication of the information collected during the general mine action assessment process so that it can be readily and easily used and exploited. The form and means of dissemination should have been agreed at the start of the survey, but may need to be revised to reflect changing requirements such as the handling of restricted information.

Information should be made available in a form that is appropriate for its local use and exploitation and subsequent review. This may include reports, summaries, maps, verbal briefings and electronic media. Whenever possible, use should be made of standard and proven information management systems and GIS, such as IMSMA.

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