ENG - UN CC:Learn

ARAB STATES
YEMEN
MDGs
Progress Towards Environmental Sustainability
Sanaa
Hodeida
Yemen is a country with scarce water resources.The dry climate that affects DJIBOUTI
90% of Yemen's area, high evaporation rates, and excessive pumping of ground water have significantly reduced
the availability of water in the country.
Moreover, Yemen's soil resources are extremely limited. Arable land constitutes only 2% of the total land surface
area. The deterioration of soil resources therefore poses a serious environmental threat, due to the high salinity of
soil and desertification, which threatens approximately 97% of the land.To fulfill the national water demand required
for the industry and population to develop, there is an urgent need to allocate investment towards infrastructure and to
implement technology designed to reduce leakages.
It is no surprise, then, that Yemen faces an enormous challenge in achieving the MDG target for access to safe drinking water, due to
the severe scarcity of water resources. Yemen is considering increasing access to water through encouraging private sector participation
in urban areas, as well as decentralization and privatization. In rural areas, options are much more limited; cost sharing by beneficiaries
and stakeholders seems to be the only current solution. Moreover, enhancing the water sector strategy requires significant
improvement in Yemen’s administrative capacity by decentralizing financial and administrative policies in water management.
Yemen needs to widely promote the importance of achieving MDG 7 targets and to integrate them into its national development
agenda. The implementation of environmental policies and laws
protecting the environment are essential if Yemen is to show
QUICK FACTS
CURRENT PORTFOLIO BUDGET
Total UNDP-GEF and Co-Finance: $1,125,000
Total UNDP and Co-Finance: $12,400,000
Total MPU and Bilateral: $1,472,730
Total: $14,997,730
Red
Sea
ERITREA
SAUDI ARABIA
Aden
YEMEN
Mukalla
Arabian Sea
OMAN
progress in environmental sustainability. Increased private investment,
rural community participation as well as that of NGOs and
local authorities are priorities for more efficient management of
environmental resources in Yemen. 1
Cumulative Total ODS Phased-Out:
220.0 ODP tonnes
SPOTLIGHT
Improved Water Governance to Manage Water Conflicts 2
Disputes over water are common in Yemen, where water resources are low, even by regional standards.
In the Middle East and North Africa region, the estimated per capita availability of renewable water
resources is 1,250 cubic metres, and the world average is 7,500 cubic metres, while in Yemen, the figure
in 1994 was only about 133 cubic metres, and decreasing.
A major limitation in Yemen was the absence of a central water authority and national water policy. Over
the past decade, reform of Yemen's water sector has been a major goal of UNDP, in partnership with the
Government of the Netherlands. Recognizing the critical nature of water in Yemen, a UNDP/Netherlands project fostered
extensive national debate and discussion, involving all major stakeholders in the water sector, resulting in a government-formulated
blue print for water sector reforms. The blue print called for, among other things, consolidating the water resources
management functions under a single authority and creating the legislative framework to support its functions. The new
agency, called the National Water Resources Authority, was established in 1995 and for the first time in Yemen, strategic considerations
were given priority over competing interests.
The Water Authority’s most significant achievement has been the enactment of the Water Law in August 2002, which established
the rules and regulations for water usage and defined specific rights and penalties.The aim is now to define water rights
in order to minimize and resolve conflicts over water resources, and establish the institutional mechanisms for resolving water
WATER
conflict by replacing the traditional top-down water management approach with a system where the water agencies and the
local communities work together to manage the catchment water resources.
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