Leveraging Water for Peace: FAO’s Experience in Yemen

To leverage ‘Water for Peace,’ we urgently need to fully understand the water governance systems, how resources are extracted, used, shared and replenished. Our experience in Yemen has shown glaring gaps between policy and the ultimate use of the precious commodity. Another gap is limited funding to replicate best water management practices which have been piloted and proven effective.

Such gaps threaten food security, human health, and security. At times human lives are lost when communities fight over the resource and 70 – 80 percent of conflicts in Yemen are over water.

Yemen has an unenviable water situation.

Yemen is the poorest country in the world in terms of water resources. The annual per capita share of water is a lowly 83 cubic metres compared to the absolute threshold of 500 cubic metres. The agricultural sector accounts for about 90% of water use, most of it going to qat[1] growing .  

Across Yemen, groundwater is being depleted at twice the rate it is being replenished. Groundwater resources are being used randomly. At the current extraction rate, by 2030, the water basins will be depleted. This will be catastrophic for a country where 70% of the rural community practice agriculture. The agrifood systems transformation agenda will be lost with the depletion of water resources in Yemen. 

Climate change and rapid population growth have put additional pressure on Yemen’s limited water resources. About 14.5 million people in Yemen are without access to safe drinking water and reliable sanitation facilities. Women bear the brunt of this water situation which not only affect their crop and livestock production but entails more labour and time is used to travel to collect, store, and distribute water.

Introducing sustainable and cost-effective ways of water use

FAO, working with the authorities and with support from development partners, is seized with the water situation in Yemen. Our focus is to give technical support in integrated water resources management[2] (IWRM). The goal is to develop sustainable water management strategies, policies, and investment plans that address water challenges in Yemen.

Sustainable water use and equitable distribution hinge on innovative interventions such as modern irrigation systems (drip irrigation and pivot irrigation). Other innovations including water harvesting technologies and small-scale spate irrigation improvements have been introduced.

Efficient spate irrigation through small spate diversion works, ponds excavations and canal control structures have proved successful.

Water harvesting technologies were improved by among other interventions: rehabilitating and constructing new terraces; rehabilitation of on-farm water storage facilities for supplemental irrigation of existing terraces; on-farm water harvesting through underground cisterns and open wadi pits; wadi soil conservation and erosion control; rehabilitation of shallow wells and springs.

We have also promoted protected agriculture using greenhouses. These have proven effective as farmers are now able to sustainably grow a variety of crops using small land for their own consumption and selling the surplus.   

Addressing water governance through policy interventions

One effect of the Yemeni conflict which has escaped critical scrutiny is how policies and regulatory frameworks have been paralysed. The unsustainable extraction of water is evidence of such paralysis. For example, it is paradoxical that solar powered boreholes, presumably an efficient water extraction method, are worsening the situation. This is so because drilling is currently done haphazardly, and it proliferated during the conflict period due to lack of/weak regulation instruments. Apart from the great depths gone to extract the precious resources (some go down to 700m), there are cases where boreholes are a mere 10 metres apart.

It is thus vital, at this juncture, to come up with ways to help end this unsustainable extraction of water resources in Yemen. Ending the long-drawn conflict will help end this scourge. Furthermore, it is vital to strengthen the regulatory, legislative, and policy thrust towards water resources management. The National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) whose mandate is “to manage the nation’s water resources on a sustainable basis, to ensure satisfaction of basic water needs by all but especially by the poor, and to establish a system of water allocation that is fair” needs technical, financial, and capacity building support to achieve this.

FAO, through its Hand In Hand Initiative (HiHI), worked with the authorities in Yemen and developed the National Agriculture and Fisheries Strategy and Investment Plan 2030. This strategic document, which is now operational, addresses challenges in the water sector as well as looking at natural resources management, disaster risk response and climate change adaptation needs or options in Yemen with responsible investment plans that ensure sustainability. 

Community level water resources management

All interventions mentioned above will come to naught without the active involvement of the ultimate water users. As part of improving IWRM, FAO is working with communities to rehabilitate water infrastructure. Communities participate through cash for work (CFW) programmes. Close to 20,000 households have participated in CFW activities since 2020. CFW interventions serve a dual purpose. On one hand, they create income opportunities for participating households while on the other, they enable the restoration, rehabilitation, and establishment of communal assets such as water canals, weirs, and irrigation systems.

In addition, FAO supports Water User Associations (WUAs) to achieve optimal management of natural resources at the basin level. WUAs consist of representatives from farmers, communities, and other stakeholders involved in water resource management. WUAs use a participatory approach with women and the youth also participating. Since 2020, 62 WUAs have been formed in Sana’a, Lahj, Hadramout, Wadi Hajar and Abyan.

WUAs play a vital role in shaping the composition and functions of regional and basin water management committees. These WUAs facilitate decentralized water resources management and sustainable rural livelihoods at the sub-basin, and basin levels.

WUAs are a vital link in the whole water extraction and equitable use in Yemen. They are responsible for managing water distribution, maintaining irrigation infrastructure, resolving conflicts among users, and ensuring the sustainable use of water resources. These associations allocate water to farmers based on agreed-upon schedules and priorities. In addition, community leaders are trained in conflict resolution mechanism to help resolve any emerging tensions.

Sustainability of these WUAs is key as they may buckle under the weight of the burden they carry. In this regard WUAs collect fees from users to fund maintenance and operation activities. WUAs receive support and guidance from government agencies, especially the NWRA, as their operations are under the agency. Additional support come from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in water resource management. All in all, WUA are an important instrument that has been used to promote peaceful coexistence and sharing of water resources.

Women taking part in resolving conflicts over water resources.

FAO acknowledges the crucial role women play in the practical day-to-day supply, management, and use of water. As such, FAO ensures that women actively participate in all phases of water management. Women are farmers and irrigators and should participate in decision-making over the access and use of water as well as addressing gender-specific challenges they face.

This is possible as was illustrated in the Sana’a basin where, for the first time in one of the villages’ history, women were active participants in the meetings with Sheikhs and proposed gender-specific solutions. This was made possible through the implementation of IWRM projects within the area.

A call to more action

FAO’s work in IWRM has shown that it is possible to ease conflicts over water. Additionally, these interventions have proven that the current slide towards exhaustion of water resources may be reversed.

However, despite the modest successes, there is more that is still to be done. Top on the list is to increase resources towards IWRM interventions. We thank the various development partners we have worked with and in the same breath appeal for additional funding.

It is also vital to come up with policies, and fine tune existing ones, to help IWRM in Yemen. For example, there is no clear regulation on how much water resources may be extracted, and this has seen even fossil water being mined. Fossil groundwater is being further depleted by the proliferation of solar powered pumps whose extraction of the resource is not clearly regulated. Without clear policies, this trend may continue and will further impact the water situation in Yemen.

Yemen’s water challenges: The road ahead

This year’s World Water Day theme: ‘Water for Peace’, resonates well with what stakeholders, across the globe, are doing to underline the centrality of water in the stability and prosperity of the world. Moreso, Yemen is a classic example of what it means to recognise the link between water and peace. There will be increased conflicts over water as the resources become scarcer because of over extraction, unsustainable use, and climate change.

FAO, through IWRM interventions, has shown that the water situation in Yemen may be made more sustainable and have the resource shared in a peaceful manner. However, there are emerging constrains including resource funding gaps which restrain an expansion of interventions which have been proven to work.

Information on Yemeni water resources is scant and the little that is available be lost because of the ongoing conflict, yet this is critical for policy decision. Yemen requires robust water information systems which will inform policy formulation and decisions. Such information systems would include a database with all water information. FAO has broad experience in this area and supported countries with similar context This will be critical for use in water policies development and decision making.  

Yemen has a unique water situation, and it needs a helping hand to extricate itself from this debilitating situation. The country cannot afford to travel on this journey alone as it desperately needs financial, technological, and good practices assistance.

As we mark this important day, we need to reflect and see how best we can make a change and leverage ‘Water for Peace’.

Happy World Water Day.

Dr Hussein Gadain FAO Representative in Yemen