Every year, several hundred individuals die or are injured as a result of unplanned explosions involving poorly maintained and badly managed ammunition stockpiles. While it is difficult to provide an accurate measure of the direct and indirect impacts of these explosive events on lives, livelihoods, housing, the environment, and development, the costs and consequences—in terms of health care, direct and indirect income loss, material damage, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), and environmental damage—are certainly severe.

Aging, excess, and unstable stockpiles of conventional weapons and munitions pose dual threats of illicit proliferation and accidental explosion, which could cause humanitarian disasters and destabilize individual countries or regions as a whole.

Many states view surplus weapons and ammunition as ‘money in the bank,’ securing them for future need or future resale. A new Small Arms Survey Special Report for the Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) Initiative—Significant Surpluses: Weapons and Ammunition Stockpiles in South-east Europe—critiques this perspective by assessing Southeast Europe’s (SEE) weapon and ammunition stockpile: its volume, value, and costs to national defence budgets.

Maintaining defence and security sector weapons and munitions safely and securely is vital, not only for a country’s readiness to defend itself, but also for its internal safety and stability. Mismanaged or unstable stockpiles can potentially have serious consequences: weapons and ammunition stolen from storage depots have fuelled crime, rebellions, and wars; and old or unstable munitions have spontaneously combusted, destroying entire stockpiles while inflicting casualties, and damaging buildings and infrastructure.