#rmac

[ Issue 24.2 ] 

The Republic of Iraq remains severely contaminated with explosive ordnance (EO) according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor report 2019. Located in southern Iraq, the Iraq Directorate of Mine Action’s (DMA) Regional Mine Action Center South’s (RMAC-S) area of responsibility contains the most contaminated area in Iraq in terms of surface area. The region’s hazard areas recorded in the national mine action database (IMSMA) stood at 1,592 sq km by mid-July 2020, with the Basra Province alone containing 1.27 billion sq m of hazard area. This contamination predominantly originates from various armed conflicts in the region, ranging mostly from the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s to the 2003 Iraq War. The region has seen relatively little conflict with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which bodes well for regional security but means funding for conventional minefield clearance is limited.

From a natural hazard perspective, the region is exposed to a range of natural and human-induced disasters, e.g., droughts, floods, sand-storms, desertification, and various epidemics. Compounding the situation is the country’s poor economic situation, infrastructure, and unreliable internet connectivity. In addition to navigating the contamination hazards mentioned previously, RMAC-S is tasked with prioritizing land release activities based on, inter alia, the socioeconomic status, population vulnerability, and development sectors’ activities that are restricted by the hazardous areas within each district. The presence of minefields in the region’s large oil fields, on which the government relies heavily, further hampers the effective management of mine action resources available to RMAC-S.

ROLE OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Timely access to relevant information is a key enabler for effective decision-making in any organization and even more so when these decisions affect lives and livelihoods. Since 2004, iMMAP has supported and developed the humanitarian mine action (HMA) program’s information management (IM) systems, delivered capacity building activities and facilitated coordination on IM, planning and prioritization between the DMA and other HMA actors in Iraq. Balancing  the access restrictions and security requirements imposed by the government on the national mine action database contents, DMA’s activities created an array of information products that provided decision makers with easier access to data subsets, assisting with data analysis and the contextualization of the hazard areas. The previous system resulted in delayed responses from fully-taxed personnel when staff from RMAC-S operations are met with urgent requests for planning or mine action tasks submitted by implementing partners. The shortfalls of the national budget contribute to the difficulty of retaining skilled national IM staff, complicating the DMA’s operating capacity, and further delaying the output of (paper-based) field report submissions stemming from the problematic infrastructure.

Colorado Christian Cougars at South Dakota Mines Hardrockers

Friday, September 28, 2018