Current Projects: GC2S2 is developing a significant health and nutrition project for the Kampala, Uganda region. Our objectives are 1) focusing on establishing health clinics with traveling nurses and doctors to address the lack of access to medical care in rural or slum areas, 2) developing a nutrition plan for educational institutions for young students (children), and 3) providing family planning services and feminine hygiene products to women and young girls to assist with keeping young women in school, in addition to ensuring mothers have access to the care needed both pre and postpartum. You can learn more and contribute to our ongoing projects here.
Background
Yemen is currently experiencing one of the worst water crises in the world. The proliferation of water-hungry cash crop agriculture and the overuse of groundwater have contributed to rapidly declining water levels. Attempts at reform are stifled by the dominance of the shaykhs, who control most of the water and farmable land. Furthermore, the Sa’dah wars and the current civil war have destroyed infrastructure and made reform and construction efforts much more difficult.
Historically, water collection in Yemen has balanced its water consumption through rainwater collection and storage to ensure sustainable water usage. This changed in the 1970s when deep tube wells tapped into groundwater.1 This development, combined with an import ban on fruits and subsidies on the diesel needed to operate said wells, allowed the massive growth of cultivated farmland, increasing tenfold between 1970 and 2004.2 Farmers grew fruits and quat, a mild narcotic popular in Yemen and a cash crop.3
As a result of this expansion in agriculture, seventy percent of Yemen’s population is reliant on agriculture.4 Underlying these changes is an expansion in water usage. Fruits and qat, both water-intensive crops, replaced drought-resistant wheat,5 increasing water usage by crops. Agriculture in Yemen now takes up 90% of water consumption in the region.6 This caused the depletion of available water over time, exacerbated by the Sa’dah wars and the Houthis’ conquest of the northern parts of Yemen and its capital, Sana’a.
The inequality in the distribution of water sources has also contributed to the water scarcity crisis in Yemen. Shaykhs are local tribe leaders who heavily influence Yemeni politics. The shaykhs performed mediation between tribesmen, administered legal matters, and represented their tribes when negotiating with other tribes.7 Due to how much influence shaykhs had over their tribe, any political entity needed to keep shaykhs placated to ensure stability.
Shaykhs typically influenced governments indirectly. This changed after the 1960s Yemeni revolution and overthrow of the imamate. The shaykhs who supported the revolution against the imamate were rewarded with a place in the then-new republic’s government.8 The shaykhs expanded their wealth and land holdings using their newfound connections. Shaykhs, more often than not, spent most of their time in the capital Sana’a to maintain their political and financial power, often to the detriment of their traditional duties.9 Because of this, shaykhs control most of the water and farmland; not only do they control most of the tubewells that retrieve groundwater, but shaykhs tend to be the biggest consumers due to their ownership of farmland.10
Furthermore, their domination of decision-making structures means that the shaykhs resist attempts to reform.11 The economic dominance of the shaykhs, combined with the neglect of their constituents, means tribesmen and other Yemeni citizens do not have enough water to farm and not enough land to feed themselves. This, combined with other factors, fed into the civil unrest that led to the Sa’dah wars and the current civil war. The anger over the lack of water combined with this abandonment of traditional duties has led to conflict over what water remains, creating blood feuds. These blood feuds, combined with other factors, expanded the violence of the Sa’dah wars and the current civil war.
The six Sa’dah wars and the following civil war have worsened the water crisis. Ongoing fighting between the Houthis and Yemen’s official government caused significant destruction to water storage infrastructure across the country. UN-supported buildings that are key to managing the short-term relief of the water crisis have been hit by airstrikes. Airstrikes also destroyed water stations that provide most of the water to entire regions. The destruction of critical water infrastructure forces the storage of water in unsanitary conditions. These conditions has caused outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases, hurting Yemen’s population.12 Considering that the lack of development and resource scarcity led to the civil war, the increasing water scarcity has further fueled the conflict and made peace more challenging to attain.13
The Current Situation
Water scarcity in Yemen is due to the overdrawing of groundwater and the current civil war. An estimated 17.8 million people lack access to safe water services in Yemen. Additionally, the existing water network reaches less than 30% of the Yemeni population.14 15 Currently, annual renewable freshwater resources are estimated at 65 cubic meters per person, far below the accepted water scarcity milestone of less than 500 cubic meters per person.16
Furthermore, the purchase of water via private actors is increasingly inaccessible to the public, as the price of water has quadrupled between 2004 and 2009.17 The lack of clean water forces women and children to walk miles to fetch water from wells. The dearth of clean water causes outbreaks of waterborne illnesses,18 reduces the availability of local crops and food, and makes survival, in an already arid place, more untenable. This also has reduced the education levels of children as they have to miss school to ensure their families can get the water they need.
The ongoing civil war further worsens this unsustainable water situation. The Houthis, the Yemeni government, and Yemen’s Saudi allies have been highly indiscriminate in their firepower. As both sides are keenly aware of the necessity of water to continue the war, water facilities and power generating infrastructure needed to power said facilities have been targeted and destroyed.
This has caused the sharp plummeting of public water access. For example, Taizz has only 21 of its 88 wells operational.19 Situations like this have become standard across the frontlines of the civil war and have forced citizens to reduce food consumption and reduced washing and sanitation.20 Additionally, the necessary treks for water expose women and children to sexual and gender-based violence, land mines, and sniper attacks.21 The conflict, combined with irresponsible water usage and the prevalence of qat, has made Yemen’s populace extremely food and water insecure.
Solutions for the Water Crisis
Providing Water:
GC2S2’s action plan to provide short-term aid would be to truck in water and distribute water bottles to Yemen’s public. The water supplied by GC2S2 would be given out for free or cheaper than current prices to ensure minimal economic impact on those in need. This temporary solution would alleviate water insecurity for people in Yemen by shielding them from rising costs related to private trucking efforts and privately purchased water bottles.
Building Water Infrastructure:
GC2S2’s plan for long-term aid would be the construction of rainwater harvesting and storage centers. This would return to pre-1970s Yemeni water management and is more sustainable than groundwater drafting. Rainwater collection centers would also bypass the shaykhs’ stranglehold on groundwater collection, increasing access to water for the most vulnerable people of Yemen.
Introduce Drought-Resistant Crops:
Finally, GC2S2 can provide seeds for climate-appropriate, low water usage crops and educate Yemeni farmers on how to grow and take care of them properly. The people of Yemen used to grow drought-resistant wheat prior to the overuse of groundwater and the water-intensive cash crops that characterize Yemen’s agricultural sector. This wheat, among other cereal crops, makes up a substantial portion of the typical Yemeni diet. They also require far less water than qat, reducing strain on beleaguered Yemen water supplies. Finally, they have the potential to provide funds to Yemeni citizens. Since 80% of Yemen’s domestic cereal crop demand is unsatisfied, local Yemeni farmers can start filling this demand. This allows them to gain funds, reduce water consumption, and reduce food scarcity.
Bibliography
“Water Shortages and Public Discontent in Yemen,” Climate Diplomacy, https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/water-shortages-and-public-discontent-yemen
“A Storm Without Rain: Yemen, Water, Climate Change, and Conflict,” Center for Climate & Security, 3 Aug 2016 https://climateandsecurity.org/2016/08/a-storm-without-rain-yemen-water-climate-change-and-conflict/
“Water Conflict and Cooperation in Yemen,” Middle East Report, 2010, https://merip.org/2010/03/water-conflict-and-cooperation-in-yemen/
“Yemen Beyond the Headlines: Population, Health, Natural Resources, and Institutions,” Wilson Center, 18 May 2011 https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/yemen-beyond-the-headlines-population-health-natural-resources-and-institutions
Brandt, Marieke, Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict (2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Dec. 2017)
“Strategic Framework: A Holistic Approach to Addressing Water Resources Challenges in Yemen,” UNDP, 29 Nov 2019 https://www.undp.org/yemen/publications/strategic-framework-holistic-approach-addressing-water-resources-challenges-yemen
“Yemen’s water sector reform program – a poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA): Main report,” World Bank, 1 Oct 2007 https://documents.banquemondiale.org/fr/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/503681468335429999/main-report
“Yemen Breaking With the Feudal Past,“ Penn Museum, 1974, https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/yemen/
“Water Wars in Yemen,” Ohio State University, 14 Nov 2016 https://mesc.osu.edu/news/water-wars-yemen
“Yemen,” Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, https://www.unocha.org/yemen
“‘Death is More Merciful Than This Life’ Houthi and Yemeni Government Violations of the Right to Water in Taizz,” Human Rights Watch, 11 Dec 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/11/death-more-merciful-life/houthi-and-yemeni-government-violations-right-water
“Drinking water systems under repeated attack in Yemen,” UNICEF, 01 Aug 2018, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/drinking-water-systems-under-repeated-attack-yemen
“The Water Situation in Yemen,” International Committee of the Red Cross, 6 May 2016, https://www.icrc.org/en/document/water-situation-yemen
- “Water Conflict and Cooperation in Yemen,” Middle East Report, 2010, https://merip.org/2010/03/water-conflict-and-cooperation-in-yemen/ ↩︎
- “Water Shortages and Public Discontent in Yemen,” Climate Diplomacy, https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/water-shortages-and-public-discontent-yemen ↩︎
- “Water Shortages and Public Discontent in Yemen,” Climate Diplomacy, https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/water-shortages-and-public-discontent-yemen ↩︎
- “Yemen Beyond the Headlines: Population, Health, Natural Resources, and Institutions,” Wilson Center, 18 May 2011 https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/yemen-beyond-the-headlines-population-health-natural-resources-and-institutions ↩︎
- Water Conflict and Cooperation in Yemen,”Middle East Report, 2010, https://merip.org/2010/03/water-conflict-and-cooperation-in-yemen/ ↩︎
- “Water Shortages and Public Discontent in Yemen,” Climate Diplomacy, https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/water-shortages-and-public-discontent-yemen ↩︎
- Brandt, Marieke, Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict (2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Dec. 2017) ↩︎
- Brandt, Marieke, Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict (2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Dec. 2017) ↩︎
- Brandt, Marieke, Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict (2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Dec. 2017) ↩︎
- “Strategic Framework: A Holistic Approach to Addressing Water Resources Challenges in Yemen,” UNDP, 29 Nov 2019 https://www.undp.org/yemen/publications/strategic-framework-holistic-approach-addressing-water-resources-challenges-yemen ↩︎
- “Yemen’s water sector reform program – a poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA): Main report,” World Bank, 1 Oct 2007 https://documents.banquemondiale.org/fr/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/503681468335429999/main-report ↩︎
- “Water Wars in Yemen,” Ohio State University, 14 Nov 2016 https://mesc.osu.edu/news/water-wars-yemen ↩︎
- “Water Wars in Yemen,” Ohio State University, 14 Nov 2016 https://mesc.osu.edu/news/water-wars-yemen ↩︎
- “Yemen,” Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, https://www.unocha.org/yemen ↩︎
- “The Water Situation in Yemen,” International Committee of the Red Cross, 6 May 2016, https://www.icrc.org/en/document/water-situation-yemen ↩︎
- “‘Death is More Merciful Than This Life’ Houthi and Yemeni Government Violations of the Right to Water in Taizz,” Human Rights Watch, 11 Dec 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/11/death-more-merciful-life/houthi-and-yemeni-government-violations-right-water ↩︎
- “Water Shortages and Public Discontent in Yemen,” Climate Diplomacy, https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/water-shortages-and-public-discontent-yemen ↩︎
- “Drinking water systems under repeated attack in Yemen,” UNICEF, 01 Aug 2018, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/drinking-water-systems-under-repeated-attack-yemen ↩︎
- “‘Death is More Merciful Than This Life’ Houthi and Yemeni Government Violations of the Right to Water in Taizz,” Human Rights Watch, 11 Dec 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/11/death-more-merciful-life/houthi-and-yemeni-government-violations-right-water ↩︎
- “‘Death is More Merciful Than This Life’ Houthi and Yemeni Government Violations of the Right to Water in Taizz,” Human Rights Watch, 11 Dec 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/11/death-more-merciful-life/houthi-and-yemeni-government-violations-right-water ↩︎
- “‘Death is More Merciful Than This Life’ Houthi and Yemeni Government Violations of the Right to Water in Taizz,” Human Rights Watch, 11 Dec 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/11/death-more-merciful-life/houthi-and-yemeni-government-violations-right-water ↩︎