Clearance for conservation

Until 2023, Cuemba Waterfall, one of the largest falls in the African continent, was inaccessible due to the threat of unexploded ordnance. In Central Angola, these waters provide vital resources to local communities, feed into the ecologically critical Okavango Delta, and serve as unique natural heritage to Angola. Although explosive contamination is a remnant of the country’s twenty-seven-year civil war, HALO’s recovery efforts have been ongoing since the conflicts end in 2002.

HALO’s Angolan team, which had a base next to the falls, cleared a total of 423,094 m2 (42 hectares) to make the area accessible. 17 anti-personnel mines, 32 unexploded ordnance/abandoned explosive ordnance items, and 250 items of small arms ammunition were removed in this process. Renewed access has created lasting opportunities throughout the Bie municipality, improving the lives of residents and their futures. Safe land and water enable Angolan families to farm, attend school, and build homes without fear.

Mine clearance of Cuemba Waterfall is encouraging conservation efforts, fostering tourism, and supporting local livelihoods.

In the Jiquilisco Xiriualtique Biosphere Reserve, El Salvador, HALO has partnered with a local conservation NGO, Associacion Mangal, to replant ecologically vital mangrove forests that have been degraded by extreme weather and human activity.

For surrounding communities and wildlife, the preservation of these Pacific coastal ecosystems is critical to their livelihoods and protection from the ongoing environmental crisis.

Since the El Salvadorian civil war, youth across the country have been put at higher risk due to a lack of opportunity, gang violence, and high levels of extortion. This impact project trained and employed 12 at-risk young people as community reforesters. With HALO and Associacion Mangal’s support, they created mangrove structures and cores, preformed daily cuttings, as well as collected and transported materials. These reforesters created several mangrove nurseries and cultivated 10,000+ trees to replant.

In May of 2025, the project successfully concluded with a ceremony held with communities and local partners to officially hand over the reforested areas. Our teams completed the cleaning of a canal and maintenance work on the existing mangrove replanting cores. These conservation efforts increase environmental resilience, biodiversity, and community security.

Conservation of El Salvador’s natural landscape cultivates a safer path for future generations and wildlife alike.

In February 2026, the HALO Environmental team restored two berkads, traditional rainwater reservoirs, in Dabagoryaale village, Somalia, providing this drought-affected community access to rainwater catchment and potential vegetation regrowth. Berkads are essential for their daily needs and to sustain livestock, the main source of many of their livelihoods. Residing close to huge border minefields with Ethiopia, where conflict and subsequent mining took place in the 1970s, these reservoirs were abandoned for years due to the surrounding explosives.

With the catchments cleared, HALO’s manual teams gained access to land where mechanical clearance has stripped away vegetation. Allowing HALO and the community to perform future maintenance before the rainy season, reconstruction, and reseeding land with native grasses. HALO is equipping communities with additional tools for vegetation regrowth and methods to reduce soil erosion. Restored berkads and cleared fields directly support water access, protection against soil degradation, and livelihoods in Somalia.

Clearance is helping Dabagoryaale residents to strengthen their economic stability, land, and community resilience.