US embassy cable - 04SANAA2862

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 002862 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP. NEA/ARP PLEASE PASS TO USTR JASON 
BUNTIN. STATE FOR NEA/REA CHARLES LAWSON. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EAGR, SENV, EWWT, YM, ENVIRONMENT/S&T 
SUBJECT: TOP 3 YEMEN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: WATER, WATER, 
WATER 
 
1. Summary/comment.  Several critical environmental issues 
face Yemen: overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, 
sandstorms and summer dust storms.  The most crucial issue, 
however, is the lack of potable water which affects the 
majority of Yemen's workers and future export sectors.  By 
most estimates, fresh water resources are expected to reach a 
crisis situation in the next five to ten years.  Without 
serious attention to declining water resources, Yemen will no 
longer be able to rely on agriculture as a primary source of 
employment.  End summary/comment. 
 
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WATER, WATER, ... NOWHERE 
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2. According to the World Bank, Yemen,s agricultural sector 
accounts for 21.6 percent of GDP, employs fifty percent of 
the workforce and could be considered as a potential sector 
for export growth.  The agricultural sector draws 
approximately 90 percent of the water resources.  Yemen 
boasts the highest fertility rate in the Middle East: 6.7 
children per woman.  Some international observers in Yemen 
believe the unofficial birthrate to be even higher and expect 
the population to double again in ten years.  This explosive 
growth rate, coupled with estimates of water withdrawals at 
approximately 125 percent of actual renewable water 
resources, creates a rapidly accelerating water crisis in the 
years to come. Ref A explains the water situation in the 
central city of Taiz. 
 
3. The water situation in Sanaa, while not as severe as in 
Taiz, also suffers from a low underground water basin.  One 
businessman mentioned that ten years ago, when he was 
building his house, the well he dug hit water 60 meters down. 
 In the last year, he dug 300 meters to reach underground 
water.  Municipal services in Sanaa, such as, water, 
electricity and sanitation do not connect to most homes with 
any consistency in frequency or coverage. 
 
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YEMEN,S ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN DETAIL 
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4. Yemen enacted the Environmental Protection Law under Law 
No. 26 in 1995.  This law established an environmental 
protection council to prepare a national policy for 
environment protection and to coordinate that policy with 
other relevant government bodies.  The law contained 
extensive provisions on the protection of water, soil and use 
of pesticides; regulation of environmentally damaging 
activities such as hazardous waste handling; and marine 
pollution.  On July 13, 2004 the Council of Ministers 
approved a significant by-law for the Ministry of Water and 
Environment, which now oversees the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA).  The regulations enhanced and strengthened the 
ministry's role in development of water resources and efforts 
at increasing strategic planning, international cooperation, 
and inter-agency cooperation.  At the same time, the by-law 
enacted measures to prevent the pollution of the environment 
and to ration, protect, and conserve natural resources. 
 
5. Yemen is party to the following international agreements: 
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Environmental 
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer 
Protection, and the Kyoto Protocol. 
 
6. Articles 6 through 14 of the comprehensive 1995 
Environmental Protection Law regulate the protection of 
water, soil and use of pesticides.  Article 9 prohibits any 
activity that directly or indirectly damages the soil or its 
fertility.  Article 14 prohibits any activity to the 
vegetation of any area that causes desertification.  This 
includes the cutting or removal of any forest tree, shrub or 
bush without permission from government authorities. 
 
7. Articles 15 through 21 regulate the handling and use of 
pesticides.  For instance, Article 17 provides for the 
registration period of any pesticide for a period of five 
years and extensions thereof.  Article 19 stipulates the 
conditions for storage and warehouse sites as "far away" from 
populated areas, commercial zones, or foodstuffs 
manufacturing. 
 
8. Articles 22 through 44 provide detailed guidelines for the 
control of environmentally damaging activities, environmental 
disasters, standards and licensing.  As to the handling of 
hazardous wastes and materials, Articles 45 to 55 specify 
such regulations as: the state shall bear the direct and 
indirect expenditures which arise from the measures to 
prevent improper disposal of hazardous waste. 
 
9. Articles 62 to 64 govern marine pollution issues and 
define the discharge of pollutants in the territorial waters, 
the continental shelf of the exclusive economic zone to be an 
offense. 
 
10. Articles 75 to 95 specify environmental damage 
violations, liability, punishment and compensation.  For 
example, Article 83 outlines the liability for environmental 
risk to correlate to compensations for damages that arise due 
to polluting materials and shall be applied according to the 
rules of Sharia Islamic law and others. 
 
11. As is with the case with many laws in Yemen, the Ministry 
and the EPA have solid legal grounds to carry out 
environmental policy.  Government agencies, however, suffer 
from poor central government support and inadequate budget 
resources for law and regulatory enforcement.   Examples of 
poor enforcement include the turtle poaching on the Indian 
Ocean coast, clear-cut forests and countless roads built 
without environmental impact statements and EPA coordination. 
KRAJESKI