Groundwater Depletion Clouds Yemen's Solar Energy Revolution
Publisher: Conflict and Environment Observatory
Author(s): Leonie Nimmo and Eoghan Darbyshire
Date: 2021
Topics: Assessment, Conflict Causes, Land, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Yemen
Warnings have long been sounded about Yemen’s water security. The country has a per capita water availability roughly 1.3% of the world average, and a groundwater extraction rate well in excess of its recharge rate. The issue of long-term water availability, however, has been eclipsed by the immediate humanitarian needs in the country, now torn apart by years of war. More than 10 million people – a third of the population – are at risk from famine, with 47,000 expected to experience it in the first half of 2021.
Amidst the horror of war, however, a positive story has begun to emerge. The country, which faced months of blackouts as the national grid collapsed in the early stages of the conflict, and is subject to crippling fluctuations in diesel markets for its power, has started to embrace solar energy. Markets for solar panels are booming as anyone with the capital invests in solar in order to meet the basic needs of their households. Solar has now spread to health, education and agriculture.
Agriculture in Yemen is dependent on diesel for the extraction of groundwater and successive crises in fuel markets – as they shape and are shaped by the conflict – have taken a heavy toll. Solar power has the potential to break this devastating cycle and increasingly, this is becoming a reality. Amid reports of unproductive land becoming fertile again, international development agencies have invested in solar power, the government is tendering for vast projects, and the private sector is heralding its deployment of this life saving technology. The take-up of solar by individual farmers also appears to be significant.
But the ‘solar revolution’ in Yemen is not without its dangers. CEOBS has used an approach based on satellite remote sensing to assess changes in groundwater levels, information about which has not been analysed since the conflict disrupted the country’s water well monitoring capacity. In this report, Leonie Nimmo and Eoghan Darbyshire analyse groundwater change in Yemen, incorporating insights from expert interviews alongside data on energy markets, agriculture, the armed conflict and rainfall. We conclude that a significant drop in groundwater since 2018 is likely a result of the spread of solar in agriculture, and argue that interventions are required on multiple levels and by all stakeholders to halt severe groundwater depletion.