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STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - The plight of people being maimed or killed by landmines has been recognized by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries as it launches a study of new and safer means of removing the explosives.

"The continuing conflicts around the world call us to be bolder in our mission," declared the Rev. Randolph Nugent, the board's top staff executive. He noted that recent incidents of Kosovar refugees being killed by landmines provide "a grim reminder that landmines have not disappeared."

In one of many actions taken during its April 19-22 meeting, the board agreed to conduct the study "with the view to finding any acceptable means by which we could contribute to the removal of landmines."

Nugent pointed out that "demining is an opportunity for us to make the environment safer for all people." Currently, in countries such as Cambodia and Mozambique, landmines continue to cause suffering long after war has ended. Each month, 800 people are killed and 1,200 injured worldwide by landmines, with children making up 30 to 40 percent of the casualties. "In many nations, there are no records of where landmines have been placed," Nugent said, adding that some mines can move in shifting sand, water or dirt.

The problem is not just removal. Landmines, which are "inexpensive and far too readily available," continue to be sewn into the earth. The United Nations estimates that 139 million mines will be in place by next year.

Current removal techniques are slow, tedious and dangerous for the numbers involved. For example, Nugent said, it would take 1,000 technicians a total of 33 years just to clear mines from Bosnia and Croatia.

But board directors were shown marketing videos of machines being developed - the "Mine-Guzzler" and "Earth Tiller" - that could remove mines much more quickly, with maximum protection for the machine's operator.

"It's obvious that the primary issue is safety," said Paul Dirdak, chief executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). "The only thing less safe than removing landmines is not removing landmines."

In other business, directors approved a proposal to assist with renovations of Methodist health care facilities around the world. The proposal noted that many of the institutions have survived because of hard work at the local level. But resources "have often been meager, and today many of these places still serve vigorously, but under tremendously heavy economic burdens," it said.

While the approved funding of nearly $10 million - from the board's unrealized capital gains - will not provide "wholesale renovation and restoration," it will allow for an assessment of the needs of such facilities.

Directors also endorsed two new initiatives that had received preliminary approval last year. The board will spend $2.5 million to establish a primary pension benefit program for pastors and church workers in annual conferences related to the United Methodist central conferences of Africa and Asia. It also has set aside $5 million for capital financing and leadership development for ministries in inner city neighborhoods.

Nugent introduced a proposal that the board help create a primary medical care center in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, in cooperation with the government there. Directors agreed to release up to $3 million to the United States/Kazakhstan International Foundation on Radiation Ecology and Health - of which the board has a half interest - after the foundation specifies how it will monitor and guarantee the use of the grant. The board has a history of medical mission work in Kazakhstan, a part of the former Soviet Union.

Board directors also:

Approved $300,000 for United Methodist Men to create a program of volunteer advocates for hunger relief in the annual conferences;

Designated $600,000, over a three-year period, to the Food Resources Bank, a new nonprofit corporation that UMCOR helped found.

Allotted $200,000 for the organization of an international HIV/AIDS consultation in Zimbabwe next fall;

Approved $198,000 for establishing a community seed security project in southern Somalia.

Designated $336,000 for flood relief and rehabilitation in southwest Texas.

Allotted $200,000 for a "feed the hungry" project in San Francisco Libre, a Nicaraguan town devastated by Hurricane Mitch.

Contributed $100,000 toward the cost of an international drug and alcohol conference July 4-14, 2000, in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New York, and Washington.