The Falklands War lasted a little more than two months and left the locals a legacy of about 24,000 mines, which the Argentine military began laying in the first days after the invasion. When the fighting ended, all the mined areas were fenced with barbed wire, and not a single person was injured by the explosion. There was a downside to this inheritance. Penguins settled in dangerous territories, which had previously been exterminated. The desolation allowed the birds to restore the population, since they are light enough, and the mines do not work under their weight.
Penguins in a minefield, Falkland Islands.
Image source: oldpics.net
Meanwhile, in 1998, the United Kingdom ratified the Ottawa Treaty, which prohibited the use, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines to other States. Moreover, the document prescribed the complete destruction of stocks of these mines and the elimination of minefields in the territories controlled by the signatory States. This meant that the mine clearance campaign would also affect the Falkland Islands. The military began clearing the archipelago of mines immediately after the end of the war, but did not finish the job.
The British authorities took this task seriously in 2009 and engaged specialists from Zimbabwe who had extensive experience of this kind of work at home. Mine clearance was carried out not only by the military, but also by the private company Safelane Global, which used bulldozers. The problem with finding mines on the beaches of the Falkland Islands was, among other things, that the Argentines installed them in sand dunes, which changed their location over time under the influence of wind. The sappers had to literally comb through the upper layers of the soil with their hands, which not only required special care and scrupulousness, but also caused complaints from environmentalists, since such interference disturbed the balance of the local ecosystem.
Despite all the difficulties, the British authorities in 2020 reported on the complete clearance of the Falkland Islands from anti-personnel mines three years ahead of schedule. The official ceremony dedicated to this event took place on November 14. 38 years after the end of the war, the territory of the archipelago was finally cleared.
Now access to the beaches of the Falkland Islands is open not only to penguins, but also to people.
Image source: mentalfloss.com
