According to a study by the Anthony Blair Institute, the safe demining of Ukraine will require $34.6B and extraordinary innovation. At the same time, at the current funding level and with the use of traditional approaches to demining, it will take more than 100 years to complete. At present, about 139,300 square kilometers of Ukrainian land are mined – this is an area larger than England.
Howard Buffett and Anthony Blair believe that this is a huge obstacle to Ukraine’s post-war recovery and economic development, and for global food security. To achieve the Ukrainian government’s goal of returning 80% of mined land to productive use within 10 years, funding must increase to $2.8B annually. However, this funding is not Ukraine’s highest priority at the moment.
Analysts have estimated that mined territory costs the Ukrainian economy $11.2B in lost GDP yearly (5.6% of the country’s pre-war GDP). Researchers believe it is possible to attract financing through the agricultural bond market. Payments would be made by utilizing cash flows created from the cleared land.