Yemen: Environmental Pathways for Peace and Reconciliation?

May 12, 2022 | Amy Dallas and Julie Raasteen
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The conflict in Yemen is approaching its eighth year and continues to evolve. It has fragmented the country’s social fabric, caused unthinkable humanitarian suffering, and brought about an intractable political crisis.

While the conflict continues, Yemen’s natural environment is collapsing under the combined pressure of climate stress, the impacts of conflict and natural resource mismanagement; a fact that is increasingly confirmed by data and studies. The country has seen heavy rains and storms, a water crisis, degradation of agricultural and pasture lands, loss of tree cover, damage to the marine environment, as well as air, oil and other chemical pollution. Environmental challenges, including increasing impacts of climate change, directly affect livelihoods and interact with conflict dynamics. Therefore, addressing environmental issues, including climate change, must be part of efforts to achieve peace. 

This raises the questions of how we make room for environmental considerations when negotiating peace in such a complex and urgent context, and how this can be done in a way that listens to and acts on the voices of Yemenis. 

On 25 May, the European Institute of Peace will hold an online panel discussion at the Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development entitled ‘Environmental pathways for reconciliation in Yemen’.