APOPO is joined by Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in a collaborative effort to operationalize the REST system.

This initiative follows a co-ordinated strategy that brings together some of the best experts in the field of behavioural research, animal training, analytical and environmental chemistry and product development.

Instead of bringing the rats to the field, the REST system intends to bring the field to the rats’ noses by sampling the mineral dust above a suspected area and packing it in a vial to be evaluated by the animals in a controlled setting. The animals are currently being prepared to provide them with the highest possible chances for success, and are trained on trace quantities of explosives and landmine extracts mixed with several types of soils and a wide variety of other possible background smells encountered in the field. They are then exposed to samples taken from simulated minefields and areas without and their response to the samples are recorded. We are in the process of determining the specific approach to training, sampling, and testing that maximizes the ability of the rats to identify explosives in the samples. Research findings provide useful information about how to develop operational REST systems. They also inform us regarding how to best arrange other detection tasks, such as direct landmine detection and remote detection of explosives or contraband. An operational REST system would be a great asset for the Land Release approach because it will provide a means of determining whether suspected hazardous areas can be safely returned to the communities, without the application of costly methods needed for full clearance.

APOPO hopes to be ready to conduct its first REST field tests in early 2010 in Southern Sudan.