Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

a troubling indicator of one reason why dud rates had been so high during the
conflict.
The Socioeconomic Effects of Cluster Munition Contamination
The estimated hundreds of thousands and possibly up to one million submunition
duds have greatly disrupted south Lebanon’s heavily agrarian economy. According to
UNDP, submunitions have contaminated an estimated 20 square kilometers of
agricultural land, which makes up more than half of the land contaminated. 232 The
UN Food and Agricultural Organization reported that submunitions contaminated at
least 26 percent of south Lebanon’s agricultural land, a figure MACC SL described as
“very conservative.” 233 They blocked access to homes, gardens, fields, and orchards.
Chris Clark, the program manager for MACC SL, told Human Rights Watch that “it’s
not too much of an exaggeration to say everything is affected.” 234 An estimated 70
percent of household incomes in south Lebanon come from agriculture.
Unfortunately, the submunitions remaining after the cluster strikes on south
Lebanon left farmers unable to harvest or plant crops. 235 “They need help,” said
Habbouba Aoun, coordinator of the Landmines Resource Center. “They cannot
access anymore their source of survival.” 236
South Lebanon is heavily dependent on the olive and citrus crops harvested
annually and the tobacco crops harvested twice a year. However, in the fall of 2006,
unexploded duds contaminated many fields beyond use, and many groves were
abandoned. Farmers could not irrigate their fields until they were cleared of duds, as
the watering of the fields would cause the duds to sink into the ground and make
them more difficult to detect. Many communities consequently lost their 2006
harvest of olives, citrus, and tobacco. “The cluster bombs will definitely affect next
year’s crops,” Allan Poston of the UNDP said in October 2006. “At this point, the
extent of the effect is not known yet. It will depend on how fast demining can take
232 UNDP, “CBU Contamination by Land Use,” current as of November 29, 2006.
233 Email communication from Julia Goehsing, program officer, MACC SL, to Human Rights Watch, July 20, 2007.
234 Human Rights Watch interview with Chris Clark, program manager, MACC SL, Tyre, October 23, 2006.
235 UNOCHA, “Lebanon: Cluster Bomb Fact Sheet,” September 19, 2006.
236 Human Rights Watch interview with Habbouba Aoun, coordinator, Landmines Resource Center, Beirut, October 19, 2006.
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