A war-left bomb unearthed (Photo: VNA) According to Nguyen Trieu Thuong, Director of the provincialDepartment for Foreign Affairs, since 2020, there have been 122NGO-funded programmes and projects in the field launched in the province. Theircosts totaled more than 59 million USD.
She named a number of active organisations such as PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTVN), Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Clear Path International(CPI), and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).
Their assistance helped revive many local places onceseverely contaminated by bombs and mines, she said.
Earlier, in the 2001-2020 period, Quang Tri mobilised 270million USD worth of funding from foreign NGOs to conduct 778 bomb alleviation projects. Asa result, 25,000ha of contaminated land were cleared. The projects also helpedraise mine risk awareness for over 600,000 local people, mostly students, andgenerate stable jobs for about 1,000 workers.
Quang Tri is the most polluted locality in terms of unexplodedordnance (UXO) in Vietnam, with over 82 percent of its land area contaminated.War-left landmines and bombs have killed over 3,430 people and injured 5,100since the war ended in 1975.
Since 1995, the local authorities have cooperated withinternational organisations to carry out demining activities.
By 2025, the province targets to clear 30,000ha of land,meaning it needs to mobilise some 10 million USD from foreign NGOs a year./.
VNA
