Yemen’s Water Woes: Why Climate Change Is a Drop in the Bucket

The water crisis in Yemen did not start with the current conflict. It is a governance crisis stemming from sustainability failures dating back to the post-independence era.Groundwater depletion has been underway for decades, threatening the food security and livelihoods of the Yemeni people who predominantly work in agriculture. From the 1970s until the late 1990s, the state promoted unrestricted use of groundwater and subsidized energy to foster agriculture-based development. In the 1990s and 2000s, Yemen pursued more sustainable management of its water resources by establishing new water institutions and passing reform legislation. However, since the outbreak of conflict in 2015, these critical reforms have been on hold. The only way that Yemen can address the water challenges of the coming years is to recommit to this erstwhile path toward sustainable water management.