OSCE helps integrate environmental sustainability principles into demining operations in Ukraine

On 5 December 2025, thirty experts from Ukraine’s demining agencies completed a 60-hour training course, “Systems of Environmental Management in Humanitarian Demining”, organized with assistance of the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine. The course equips participants with the qualifications of mine action environmental auditor. With the knowledge and skills acquired, they will be able to assess the environmental impact of demining operations, verify potential risks, and introduce approaches that help minimize damage to nature during the clearance of explosive hazards. 

The course was designed and delivered by the State Scientific Institute “Institute of Sustainable Recovery and Development of Ukraine”, with assistance from the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine and in co-operation with the Main Directorate for Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The curriculum provides a detailed overview of environmental threats that may arise at various stages of demining, methods for accessing and mitigating risks, as well as international and national standards and other legal provisions for ensuring environmentally sound clearance. Classroom studies are complemented by intensive practical exercises at a training ground. 

“Bombs, shells and other explosive remnants of war, in addition to posing a direct threat to lives of people, also add a lot of chemical contamination to the ground and water. And it is important that efforts to find and destroy those objects do not make things worse, do not create environmental impact that will be felt by communities for years. We hope that, together with our partners, we will help to make the cleared areas safe with the minimal damage,” said Petr Mares, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office – Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.   

This is a second group that was trained by the OSCE in the past year, which brings the total number of certified environmental auditors in mine action in Ukraine to fifty. As a result of the ongoing war, Ukraine remains one of the countries most heavily affected by mines. According to the National Mine Action Centre, roughly 30% of Ukraine’s territory is assessed as potentially contaminated with explosive items.