Forty-six-year-old Nhop Ny has owned property in the village of Klaing in Battambang for the past eight years.  He had been farming just 15 percent of the land, however, because it was so heavily contaminated with landmines.  He was barely getting by and supporting his wife and three children on a government supplement he receives for an old military injury.

Nhop Ny's story is unfortunately a familiar one in Cambodia, which remains one of three countries most affected by landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXO).  Despite a drop in casualties in 2006 compared with the previous five years, landmines and UXO continue to affect countless communities throughout Cambodia by reducing access to land for agriculture and resettlement.

UNDP's Clearing for Results programme (CFR) is addressing the challenges facing communities living with landmines and unexploded ordnance.  The high risk, high priority areas that CFR focuses on tend to be very poor areas with substantial development needs.  The programme makes mine clearance a catalyst for that development, putting the community's concerns and the needs of individuals at the heart of the demining process.

CFR promotes results-oriented mine clearance operations that directly contribute to poverty reduction and rural development activities.  The programme also further develops the capacity of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) in the areas of monitoring, regulation, quality assurance, socio-economic planning, and post-clearance land use monitoring.

Community-identified clearance priorities are submitted and reviewed through a series of participatory meetings.  Mine clearance is an essential development tool in Cambodia, supporting the construction of irrigation canals and ponds, releasing land for agriculture and for settling landless people, and community infrastructure needs such as access roads, schools and pagodas.

Development organizations and demining operators participate in the prioritization process to ensure that all factors are considered in the decision-making process.

Since the project's inception, more than 50,000 people have directly and indirectly benefitted from clearance operations under CFR.  Nearly 14,000 anti-personnel mines, 280 anti-tank mines, and over 35,000 UXO have been cleared to free up nearly 15 million square meters of land for agriculture, housing, roads, schools and other activities in line with national and provincial development plans.  CFR is currently funding the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) to conduct clearance operations in Pursat, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey, three of the most heavily mined provinces of Cambodia.

In May of 2006, 35 families in Klaing Village received nearly 200,000 square meters of cleared land funded by CFR. 

Nhop Ny can now support his family of five by using 100 percent of his land to grow rice, soybeans, oranges and bananas.

He recently received three more hectares of cleared land through CFR, which he will begin farming next season.  "I'm taking it step by step," he explains.