16 April 2023 marked an important milestone for NPA/RENEW in completing the cluster munition remnants survey in all accessible areas in Quang Tri Province. Last week NPA/RENEW teams covered Co Thanh Village of Tan Thanh Commune, Huong Hoa District – the final pending area for this operation, after eight years of implementing this survey methodology to identify the scope of contamination of cluster munition remnants.

As a result, NPA/RENEW has defined a total of 1,270 confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs), covering a land area of 615 km, since the start of the cluster munition remnants survey (CMRS) in 2015. Until now, different international NGOs and Quang Tri Provincial Military Command Units have cleared 173 km2, thus leaving a total of 442 km2 CHA that still need clearance.

The result of CMRS is a province-wide map of CHAs that identifies all areas with confirmed contamination that now require follow-on clearance. This provides all stakeholders including NPA/RENEW, Mines Advisory Group, PeaceTrees Vietnam, and the military with an overview of the contamination situation in Quang Tri Province to support efficient planning of clearance resources.

NPA will have a meeting with Quang Tri Mine Action Center for a final review of CMRS progress/outputs and the final CMRS completion report will be presented in Quang Tri on 22 May 2023.

NPA/RENEW’s survey and clearance program in Quang Tri Province is funded by the U.S. Department of State.