Water in Yemen: Whatcan the Yemenipeople do to easetheir water crisis?
By
Christopher Ward
Remote isolated mountain communities inthe Highlands have wrested a living from anungiving environment for millennia
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What can the Yemeni people do toease their water crisis?
OUTLINE OF THE TALK
The resource and its setting
1. The resource
2. …and the natural decentralization of Yemen
3. …and Yemen’s tradition of sustainable water management
Emergence of water crisis
4. Rapid modernization….
5. …leading to water crisis
Responses to date
6. The political economy that resulted in crisis
7. …..and public responses to crisis
8. …and the responses of local people
What next?
9. A possible way forward…
10. …and some conclusions
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1. The nature of theresource
Yemen is a dry, water-scarcecountry by any standards
Yemen has an often harshgeography with scant naturalresources and a topographythat means that communitiesare often isolated and‘naturally decentralized’
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1. The nature of theresource
This wadi is dry for all but twoweeks of the year-
Children enjoying theseasonal spate flows
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1. The nature of theresource
…then torrents rush down thewadi bed to the sea
These truck drivers areenjoying spate flows ratherless
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1. The nature of theresource
Yemen is a naturallydecentralized country
Almost all water resources are‘naturally decentralized’ localones
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2 Yemen is a naturallydecentralized country
Yemen’s society and politicsare strongly influenced by thephysical environment
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2 Yemen is a naturallydecentralized country
Yemen’s society and itspolitics are stronglyinfluenced by localism andthe related social and politicalstructures of the clan andtribe
Political power in Yemen has astrong local base, and thesetribesmen’s respect of centralgovernment is conditional
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3. A long tradition ofsustainable watermanagement andservices
Yemenis have proved adeptover three thousand years atusing their scarce resourcesto make Yemen bloom
Remote isolated mountaincommunities in the Highlandshave wrested a living from anungiving environment formillennia
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3. A long tradition ofsustainable watermanagement andservices
Yemenis have proved adeptover three thousand years atusing their scarce resourcesto make Yemen bloom
A village water cistern datingfrom the Middle Ages
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4. Four decades of rapidchange andmodernization
Political and economicmodernization……
and the rapid growth ofimproved and market –oriented agriculture
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4. Four decades ofrapid change andmodernization
But the population is fastexpanding population andYemen is at the end of its easysources of growth
Large qat plantations aredraining the groundwater whilstthere is widespread and growingpoverty and malnutrition
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4. Four decades ofrapid change andmodernization
The rapid development ofwater resources
Pumping groundwater….
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4. Four decades of rapidchange andmodernization
Much of the preciousresource is wasted
Some (wasteful) basinirrigation using groundwaterpumped from a deep (500metres) tubewell
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4. Four decades of rapidchange andmodernization
Much of this water is non-renewable fossilgroundwater
Irrigating qat with very highcost tanker water…
…a sign of extreme watershortage
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4. Four decades of rapidchange andmodernization
Modern spate structures aremore efficient at divertingwater…
…..but often shift water fromdownstreamers toupstreamers
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5. So what is thewater crisis in Yemen?
Benefits of the groundwaterboom
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5. So what is thewater crisis in Yemen?
Yemen is running out ofwater in many rural areas
A dried up well – thesurrounding land hassubsided as the aquifer hasbeen drained
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5. So what is thewater crisis in Yemen?
A second aspect of the crisisis the poor level of ruralwater services
Women and children spendhours every day on thebackbreaking corvee to andfrom the water source
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5. So what is thewater crisis in Yemen?
The third aspect of the crisisis poor coverage of urbanwater services
Most water for towns stillcomes from tankers thatcollect the water from wells inthe surrounding countrysideand at very high cost
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6. Political economydrivers of the crisis
A political economy skewedagainst the poor
This rural water scheme in theTehama has dried up
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6. Political economydrivers of the crisis
Rapid growth of agriculture
A powerful driver – qat
Miracle crop or driver ofdestruction?
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6. Political economydrivers of the crisis
Groundwater boom and bust…
…and most Yemenis have beenleft out
Only about a third of ruralcommunities have access to safewater…
…and women and children arestill trudging miles to fetch water
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7. Responses to thecrisis
Four linked reforms
- decentralized management anda stakeholder partnershipapproach
- recognition of existing rights,plus regulation and information
- water conservation through theeconomic incentive structure
- promoting WUE and anincrease in income per drop
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7. Responses to thecrisis
Decentralized managementand stakeholder partnership
Educating the young is animportant part ofGovernment’s strategy….
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7. Responses to thecrisis
Regulation
Education may prove a fraildefence against the politicaland economic power of therandom drillers
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7. Responses to thecrisis
Changing the incentivestructure
Powerful vested interests arehostile to changes in pricesthat will affect incomes
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7. Responses to thecrisis
Increasing water useefficiency and income perdrop
Government has subsidizedthe adoption of drip irrigation
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Lessons fromexperience so farCollaborative water managementshows potential
Top-down regulation only works asa complement
Government needs to set anenabling framework.
Changes in the incentive structureare a blunt instrument
Support to increasing water useefficiency is only effective incombination with management
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8. The case formanagement by localpeople
Building on the age-oldingenuity and adaptivecapacity of Yemenis
Local farmers explain howthey manage – and havealways managed – theirwater and land resources
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8. The case formanagement by localpeople
Yemeni people have:
1. Adaptive capacity
2. Capability for conflictresolution
3. Capability for resourcemanagement andcollective action
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8. The case formanagement by localpeople
If local people have adaptivecapacity, capability forconflict resolution, andcapability for resourcemanagement and collectiveaction….
….is there any need forgovernment?
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9. A possible wayforward
Communities and the nationhave a symmetrical interest inwater conservation
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10. Conclusion
Yemenis have shown throughexperience that where localcommunities take charge,they stand a chance at least ofrecovering control over theirwater resource and providingsustainable and equitablewater services to local people
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10. Conclusion
Village drinking water supplyis almost always betterorganized when localcommunities take charge
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10. Conclusion: the roleof government
There is a vital role for governmenttoo:
• in ‘soft power’ – empoweringlocal people
• in investment – in supportinglocally conceived andimplemented projects
• in planning for the structuraltransition of the economy in thelonger term.
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10. Conclusion: therole of government
Government can co-financeinvestment
Wadi bank protection in theHadramawt
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10. Conclusion: therole of government
Government can strengthen localrural water services
Strengthen the bottom-up approachand local responsibility
Ensure the water resource and thetechnology are sustainable andaffordable
From local water management,whole patterns of cooperation canemerge
Fog collection in Hajjah
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10. Conclusion: therole of government
Government can helpimprove urban services
Bring in the private sector onan equitable and sustainablebasis
Test innovative newtechnologies and PPPapproaches
Rooftop rainwater harvesting
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11. A more sustainablefuture
The challenge for Yemenis isto build on the nation’straditions and common senseto brake the runaway miningof the past three decades andto return resourcemanagement towards theage-old balance reflected inthat luminous hadith:
Cultivate your world as if youwould live forever
Prepare for the hereafter as ifyou would die tomorrow
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