Global programmes to clear the world of landmines face a budget shortfall of almost half a billion dollars next year.

The deficit jeopardises efforts to reduce the number of people wounded or killed by the small bombs.

But now scientists have come up with a new technique to detect mines without any human presence nearby.

It involves genetically modified bacteria, and reseachers say it means mines could one day be located without risking lives, but critics aren't convinced.

Tarek Bazley reports.