national watershed management and sustainable mountain

Food and Agriculture Organization

Republic of Yemen

Royal Embassy of The Netherlands

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND WASTEWATER RE-USE

IN THE PERI-URBAN AREAS OF YEMEN

(GCP/YEM/026/NET)

NATIONAL WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

AND SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Sana’a -Yemen

May - July 2000

National Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development Programme

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OUTLINE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Pages I & II I. INTRODUCTION Page 1 II. GENERAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Environmental characteristics: Page 2 2.1.1 Climate: Page 2 2.1.2 Physiography: Page 3 2.1.3 Geology: Page 3 2.1.4 Soils Page 3 2.1.5 Biological resources (flora and fauna): Page 4 2.2 Land resources: Page 4 2.2.1 Agricultural resources: Page 4 2.2.2 Natural woodland resources: Page 5 2.2.3 Natural rangeland resources: Page 5 2.3 Water resources: Page 5 2.4 Population and demography: Page 6 2.4.1 Population parameters: Page 6 2.4.2 Spatial and temporal mobility of population: Page 7 2.4.3 The gender issue: Page 7 2.4.4 Employment: Page 7

2.4.5 Food consumption patterns and trends: Page 7 2.5 Animal resources: Page 8 2.6 Resource management trends in Yemen - Misuse of natural resources: Page 9 2.7 Economic features: Page 12 2.7.1 Place of agricultural sector in national economy: Page 12 2.7.2 Place of forestry in the agricultural economy: Page 12 2.8 General setting: Page 12 2.8.1 Administrative set-up and organisation: Page 12 2.8.2 Political and legislative framework: Page 13 2.8.3 National development plans & policies: Page 14 2.9 Linkages with current key priorities and strategies: Page 14 2.9.1 Priorities identified by the Government: Page 14 2.9.2 Priorities identified by the Aden Agenda: Page 15 2.9.3 Yemen-Netherlands Sector-Wide Approach cooperation: Page 15 2.9.4 Issues & key priorities identified by UNDP: Page 16 2.9.5 FAO strategic & cooperation priorities: Page 16 2.9.6 World Food Program strategy for Yemen: Page 17 2.9.7 Issues & recommendations formulated by the World Bank: Page 17 2.9.8 Priority areas of CCA/UNDAF: Page 17 2.9.9 Chapter 13, Agenda 21 Rationale: Page 18


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2.9.10 Conclusions : Page 18 III. WATERSHED RESOURCES CHARACTERISTICS AND MANAGEMENT Page 18 3.1 Surface water systems and drainage: Page 18 3.1.1 Hydrographic network: Page 18 3.1.2 Main types of watersheds: Page 19 3.2 Agricultural production systems & economics of crop production: Page 19 3.2.1 Irrigated agriculture: Page 19 3.2.2 Rain-fed agriculture: Page 20 3.3 Institutional set-up & capacity build up measures in WM&SMD: Page 20 3.3.1 Institutional set-up: Page 20 3.3.2 Capacity building measures: Page 22 3.4 WM&SMD activities: Type and magnitude: Page 22 3.4.1 Prior studies and activities related to WM&SMD: Page 23 3.4.2 Recent and ongoing watershed management activities: Page 23 3.4.3 GCP/YEM/026/NET project: Page 23 3.4.4 Existing traditional watershed management practices: Page 24 3.5 Watershed management policy and action plans: Page 24 3.5.1 National Watershed Management Policy: Page 24 3.5.2 Watershed Management National Action Plans: Page 25 3.6 Observations and lessons learned: Page 25 IV. JUSTIFICATION Page 26 V. WM&SND ISSUES & PROBLEMS TO BE ADDRESSED Page 29 5.1 Watershed problems: Page 29 5.1.1 Common watershed problems: Page 29 5.1.2 Specific watershed problems: Page 29 5.2 Checking the steady degradation of the scarce land and environmental resources: 0 5.2.1 degradation of the scarce land & environmental resources: Page 30 5.2.2 Soil degradation and erosion: Page 30 5.3 Sustaining water production, quality and use: Page 31 5.4 Combating poverty and food insecurity: Page 32 5.4.1 Reducing food insecurity Page 32 5.4.2 Poverty alleviation: Page 32 5.5 Gender equity: Page 33 5.6 Other related issues and problems to be addressed Page 33


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VI. PROGRAMME’S AIMS & IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES Page 34 6.1 WM&SMD ‘s development objective: Page 34 6.2 WM&SMD’s Immediate objectives: Page 34 VII. PROGRAMME APPROACH AND STRATEGY Page 36 7.1 Approach adopted in the preparatory phase of the WM&SMD Programme Page 36

7.1.1 Desk preparatory phase Page 36 7.1.2 Preparatory field studies Page 38 7.2 Programme approach: Page 39 7.3 Programme strategy: 0 VIII. ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS Page 44 8.1 Programme set up and linkages: Page 44 8.1.1 Programme set-up: Page 45 8.1.2 Programme linkage: Page 47 8.2 Modality for planning, management and implementation: Page 48 8.3 Finance and budget control mechanisms: Page 50 8.4 Community Land Resources Management Master Plans preparation & implementation: Page 52 IX. TARGET AREAS AND BENEFICIARIES Page 52 9.1 Target areas: Page 52 9.2 Beneficiaries: Page 53 9.2.1 Direct beneficiaries Page 53 9.2.2 Indirect beneficiaries Page 54 X. PROGRAMME OUTPUTS AND DURATION Page 54 10.1 Potential Programme interventions: Page 54 10.2 Expected outputs: Page 59 10.3 Programme duration: Page 60 XI. INPUTS Page 61 11.1 Government inputs: Page 61 11.2 Donor inputs: Page 562 11.3 Communities’ inputs: Page 63


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XII. RISKS AND ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION Page 63

ANNEXES Annex 1: Proposals for a Programme training curriculum Page 1 Annex 2: Developing statistical databases on land resources, actual land uses and functions and on socio-economic conditions Page 3 Annex 3: Proposal for the formulation of Usla Master Plans as part of the Programme’s implementation Page 4 Annex 4: Setting-up a WM&SMD Programme Coordination Committee Page 6 Annex 5: Attributions of Governorates’ Technical Committees Page 7 Annex 6: Main problematic areas Page 7 Annex 7: Yemen’s catchments and their main characteristics Page 10 Annex 8: Government inputs Page 11 Annex 9: Donor inputs Page 12 Annex 10: Detailed information on target area governorates Page 14 Annex 11: Watershed Management Policy Statements and Action Plans Page 19

TABLES Table 1: Current abstraction/recharge rates and groundwater storage for the main aquifer complexes in Yemen Page 6 Table 2: Livestock evolution (No heads) & variation in %, between 1990-1999. Page 8 Table 3: Animal popul. distribution in the 8 governorates targeted by WM&SMD Programme Page 9 Table 4: Assessment of Directorate Watershed Management Personnel Page 22 Table 5: Types and areas of soil erosion (in 000 hectares) Page 31 Table 6: Primary socio-economic indicators in the WM&SMD Programme’s selected areas 3 Table 7: Ongoing rural development projects in the selected governorates Page 53 Table 8: Government inputs Page 61 Table 9: Donor contribution Page 62

REFERENCES


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AA Aden Agenda ABDP Area Based Development Programme ACU AIO Agriculture and Irrigation Office (Governorate) AREA Agricultural Research and Extension Authority CCA Common Country Assessment CHUP CIT Core Implementation Team CLRMMP Community Land Resources Management Master Plan COCA Central Organization for Control and Audit CPMDG Central Planning and Monitoring Directorate General DAB Director of the Agriculture Branch DG Director General DGD District General Director DWM Directorate of Watershed Management (GDFDC) EPA Environmental Protection Authority FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FDP Forestry Development Project GCP/YEM/026 Acronym for “Watershed Management and Wastewater Re-Use in the Peri-Urban Areas of Yemen Project GDFDC General Directorate of Forestry and Desertification Control GDP Gross Domestic Product GOY Government of Yemen GTC Governorate Technical Committee GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit IPRS Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy IPRS Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy ITCZ Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone LC Local Council LWASA LWCP Land and Water Conservation Project M & E Monitoring and Evaluation MAI Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation MPD Ministry of Planning and Development NAPCD National Action Plan for Desertification Control NGO Non-Governmental Organization NWFP Non-Wood Forest Products NWMP National Watershed Management Policy NWRA National Water Resources Authority PCC Programme Coordination Committee PDRY Popular Democratic Republic of Yemen PET Potential Evapotranspiration PMDG Planning and Monitoring Directorate General PRA Participatory Rapid Appraisal PRFP Policy Framework for Poverty PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper RNE Royal Netherlands Embassy ROY Republic of Yemen RRA Rapid Rural Appraisal


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RSCZ Red Sea Convergence Zone SFGA Small Farmers Group Associations SFYP Second Five-Year Plan SHD Sustainable Human Development SWA Sector-Wide Approach TA Technical Assistance TCP Technical Cooperation Project (FAO) TPR Tripartite Review UN United Nations UNDAF United Nations’ Development Assistance Network UNDP United Nations’ Development Programme USD United States’ Dollar WB World Bank WFP World Food Programme of the United Nations WM&SMD Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development WWPU Acronym for “Watershed Management and Wastewater Re-Use in the Peri-Urban Areas of Yemen Project YAR Yemen Arab Republic YR Yemeni Rial YSEP Yemen Society for Environmental Protection


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development (WM&SMD) represents one of the six main areas of Yemen’s Sector-Wide Approach that is meant to address major Country development issues, making the best of the ongoing adjustments to the macro-economic and political environment approaches. The National WM&SMD Programme has come to be, as a result of a strong recommendation of the TPR of the WWPU1 project. Excessive population density and growth within the Yemeni highlands have considerably intensified demands on land resources and, lead to their mal, and over-use, resulting in ever-increasing poverty and environmental disruption. The mountain regions’ fragile environment faces complex problems and constraints brought about by accelerated degradation processes that affect their forests, rangelands and terraces’ network. Hence, the already scarce water resources are steadily wasted in devastating torrential flows and recurrent floods that wash away valuable productive lands. Faced as it is with the overall task of achieving economic and social progress, the ROY is promoting appropriate policies and strategies, that approach natural resources’ conservation and development in an integrated and comprehensive way. In this context, the WM&SMD Programme is regarded as a multidisciplinary endeavour striving after durable resource development. It aims at assisting Yemeni people and government alike in their efforts to establish a grassroots, economically reliable and environmentally sound watershed management and sustainable mountain development scheme, to improve the livelihood and well being of highland communities in a gender and responsive manner. The development objective of the Programme should be attained in a period ranging from 25-30 years. The Programme encompasses sets of interventions and contributions in cycles of 5 years meant to coincide with Yemen’s Five-Year Plans. The Programme’s immediate objectives, which are to be attained in 10 years, aim at: i) Strengthening/enhancing local institutions’ capacity in the area of WM&SMD; ii) Preparing long-term provincial, district and community participatory development programmes; iii) Building an efficient multi-stakeholder mechanism to act as platform for negotiation, dialogue, conflict resolution, and decentralized consultation within district and provincial structures; iv) Improving the efficiency & sustainability of the watershed/mountain resource use, to reduce the vulnerability of the poor; v) Upgrading the capacity for policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation; vi) Enhancing research development and; vii) Mobilizing human, material and financial resources. The Programme is designed within the context of a decentralized, well coordinated, participatory, integrated and bottom-up planning, implementation, management and assessment strategic framework. National, regional and local staff together with resident populations and representatives have been, fully involved at all stages of its innovative formulation. The persistent involvement of all stakeholders is to be encouraged and sustained, as it generates a sense of common ownership, while capacity building of both national institutions and civil society is to be an integral part of the whole process. Additionally, environmental considerations, gender orientation, poverty alleviation and partnership constitute other key elements of the Programme’s strategy. To the avail of supporting and exercising decentralization, the Programme’s detailed interventions, from planning to execution and assessment, will be conceived, organized and implemented at community level, with optimal participation of individuals, households and local communities/villages. Given the experience gained from the WWPU project in planning at community level, it is realistic to aim at a higher echelon of participatory intervention planning. Following the ongoing de-centralization process in Yemen, it appears reasonable at this early stage of the Programme, to perform planning at usla2 level. Bearing in mind the need to target representative

1 WWPU “Watershed Management and Wastewater Re-Use in Pri-Urban Areas of Yemen” Project. 2A usla is composed of a number of distinct villages and/or communities; it corresponds to the lowest administrative unit existing in the country.


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as well as diversified zones, planning in each selected governorate takes place in two uslas belonging to separate districts. Community Land Resources Management Master Plans (CLRMMP) shall be prepared for each usla, early on by the Programme. Individual district programmes will be designed, making use of the uslas’ CLRMMPs. Following the same procedure, a WM&SMD Programme will subsequently be formulated for each selected governorate. Ensuing adequate local capacity building and improved field experience, planning would then be achieved at district level and in due course at governorate level, until all of the country’s governorates are covered. The long-term national WM&SMD Programme shall ultimately result from merging the various long-term regional plans. As a learning process, the Programme is to generate continuing progress in decentralized participatory rural development. It requires therefore flexibility, that allows for probable changes and adjustments in inputs and expected outputs. It must thus make room for a built-in planning mechanism that permits regular reviews of the overall Programme and its individual components. Such review and planning exercises could be performed every two years during the first five-year phase of the Programme. Sixteen uslas singled out following an original selection process constitute the direct target areas. They belong to 16 districts distributed within 8 governorates3. Mountain communities, local authorities and councils, line agencies, NGOs etc. constitute the target groups for all activities to be carried out within the selected uslas, in the context of the Programme. The overall Programme implementation is expected to yield a number of major outputs among, which: i) Comprehensive, integrated, gender sensitive and participatory National WM&SMD long-term Programme developed; ii) Comprehensive mountain development and watershed related policies, strategies and legislation formulated; iii) Decentralized development and planning translated into facts and civil society promoted; iv) Innovative mountain specific development and conservation approaches developed and promoted; v) Solid management and human and institutional capacities built up; vi) Upland food security and income needs substantially met; vii) social infrastructures and services improved; viii) Mountain-specific investment programmes promoted; ix) Mountains’ special status4 acknowledged and translated into national policies and strategies; x) Mountain eco-tourism developed; and xi) An efficient monitoring and evaluation network set up. The government’s total inputs for the first five-year period of the Programme are estimated at YR 372 million. They include contributions to be made by each of the governorates, local councils and AIOs. Personnel expenses constitute the major input (YR 182 million), followed by the labour force and casual contracts’ budget (YR 160 million). The total donor financial effort for the first five-year period of the Programme is estimated at US $ 7,552,000. Expendable equipment and materials amount to US $ 3 million, technical assistance comes to US $ 2 million, operation expenses and administrative support add up to US $ 1,2 million, while training- production of extension material and non-expandable equipment equal respectively US $ 700,000 and US $ 450,000. The budget for duty travel and mission is estimated at US $ 200,000. The Programme may face a number of challenging risks among, which the following: i) The move towards decentralized national execution with limited experience and knowledge; ii) Possible unacceptable outside interferences in planning and implementation; iii) the timely availability of local contributions in all governorates may constitute a major issue; iv) The stability and motivation of the personnel acquiring qualifications through the Programme may prove to be problematic; v) Specific, local socio-cultural realities may hinder the Programme in its gender responsiveness.

3 These are: Sana’a, Aden, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahej, Dhamar, Shabwah and Mahweet. 4 Special status, as commanded by the mountain ecosystems’ fragility.


I. INTRODUCTION The “Sector-Wide Approach” initiative in Yemen is meant to address the fragmentation of development efforts resulting from project-based planning and development approaches that have prevailed so far. It is also to address such major issues as i) the biased development viewpoint of donors, planners and decision-makers; ii) the absence of ownership feelings at all levels, that comes with projects; and the targeting of short-term effects that reduce the chances for sustainability. Furthermore, the “Sector-Wide Approach” is to make the most of the present evolution of the macro-economic and political environments in Yemen, to provide accrued stability in development, through better stakeholder commitment and accountable, bottom-up planning. The National Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development (WM&SMD) Programme constitutes one of the six main areas of Yemen’s Sector-Wide Programme. It has come to be as a result of a strong recommendation of the mid-term Tripartite Review (TPR) of the “Watershed Management and Wastewater Re-Use in Peri-Urban Areas of Yemen”(GCP/YEM/026/NET), to which the governments of Yemen and the Netherlands have agreed. Watershed management has been put into practice for the most part since ancient times, to secure and sustain water supply and use. It was then, already understood that “He who controls the mountains, controls the rivers”5. Till recently, the definition of a watershed was confined to its hydrological functions i.e. that of an “Area of land that captures rainfall and conveys the runoff to a main channel”. Since then, the conclusion was reached that the watershed concept is in fact more complex. It is now characterised as consisting of “a system combining very complex, interrelated and spatially and temporally variable natural, social, economic, political and institutional factors” (FAO Conservation Guide 24). From an economic point of view a watershed is considered to be a “productive process” i.e. a process that takes in various natural and human inputs (rainfall, land, structures, institutions...), processes them, and produces various outputs (runoff, agro-forestry produce, livestock, income…). “Historical evidence indicates that the Yemeni People in the past, have been successful in managing and utilizing on a sustainable basis, their natural resources and that the country enjoyed for the most, self-sufficiency in basic food items”(NAPCD6). In the mountain regions, which cover most of the country’s surface area, watershed management has been practiced for many centuries “as evidenced by the widespread, painstaking terracing and water conservation works seen everywhere” (A. Maged Al-Hamiary, 1999). Elaborated to expand cultivable areas and reduce soil erosion, they relied on intricate water harvesting systems, which conserved the generally scarce, and fluctuating water resource base. Throughout the area, functional systems for collective forest and pasture use were successfully developed. In recent decades however, rapid population growth and modernization of the country have led to social and economic changes, which made the task of managing the natural resource base increasingly complex and unsustainable. Indeed, since the 1950s modern Yemen has gradually witnessed a disruption of its traditional norms of living, particularly with regard to the utilization, management and conservation of natural resources. This commotion has been aggravated by the country’s exceptionally high population growth, to the effect that the pressure exerted on scarce resources has become unsustainable, particularly in mountainous regions. As a result, nearly all watershed basin areas have reached critical conditions. Several studies report that most of Yemen’s agricultural lands are subject to various degrees of deterioration and that soil productivity is generally on the decline. This is particularly true in the mountain regions, where watershed degradation trends represent a major constraint in achieving integrated rural development.

5 Chinese proverb. 6 Republic of Yemen, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation – National Action Plan to Combat Desertification: November 2000.


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“Environmental problems and challenges have had a negative impact on the country’s development trends”7 and the ROY has difficulties in promoting sustainable production systems. Development has so far only concerned regions with generous endowments. Mountain people and communities live below the minimum acceptable level for subsistence. They have adopted survival strategies under, which they further mine woodlands, rangelands, and other resources at rates that exceed sustainable limits for recovery or renewal. However, faced as it is with the overall task of achieving national development, the government is promoting appropriate policies and strategies to develop a national Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development (WM&SMD) programme that is environmentally sound, economically reliable and socially acceptable. II. GENERAL BACKGROUND The Republic of Yemen (ROY), which covers a total area of 555,000 km2 (excluding the Rub’a Al-Khali and Islands) is, located at, the south western edge of the Arabian Peninsula between 12º and 20º north of the Equator and between 41º and 54º east of Greenwich. The ROY includes more than 120 islands, the largest of which are Socotra in the Arabian Sea and Kamaran in the Red Sea. The country is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the south, and the Red Sea to the west. Apart from the broad and flat coastal plains which border the Red Sea (Tihama) and the Gulf of Aden, the rest of the country reveals a very dissected and pronounced topography to the west and south and a more gentle, less pronounced topographic expression to the east of the country. 2.1 Environmental characteristics: 2.1.1 Climate8: Yemen has a predominantly semi-arid to arid climate, with rainy seasons distributed in spring and summer. Three large water bodies affect the climate of Yemen, they are: i) The Indian Ocean, including the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea; ii) The Red Sea and iii) the Mediterranean Sea. The climate of Yemen is also forcefully affected by the extensive Highlands rising up to 3,600 m, that run parallel to the Red Sea coast. Rainfall in Yemen varies considerably both in time and in space. It is contingent on the Red Sea Convergence Zone (RSCZ), which is active from March to May with its most noticeable impact being at the higher altitudes of western Yemen. Rainfall is also conditioned by the monsoon Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which reaches Yemen in July through September, moving from south to north and back to south. Rainstorms occurring in winter are attributed to the influence of the Mediterranean Sea. Precipitation, which is more important along the seaward exposed escarpments, comes mainly in the form of rain. Hail is not uncommon above 1800 m and snow occurs occasionally. Mist in the highlands and dew in the desert, though not recorded, do contribute to the moisture balance. There is a clear correlation between mean annual rainfall and topography as the former rises from 50 mm along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden coast, to 500-800 mm in the Western Highlands, decreasing steadily then to below 50 mm inland. Average temperatures are mostly controlled by altitude, decreasing by about 0,65 C0/100 m elevation. At lower altitudes, this relationship is disturbed by the proximity of the sea, which has a moderating effect on temperature.

7 Yemen’s national report to the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. 8 Source: Agro-climatic resources of Yemen – Part 1: Agro-climatic inventory, by: HY Bruggeman FAO Database Management Expert. Dhamar 1997.


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The mean annual relative humidity in the coastal plains is very high (70%), reaching often 90% at night. In the Highlands, it ranges from 30-60%, except in high rainfall areas, where relative humidity values range between 50-70%. In the arid interior, the relative humidity values drop below 40%, being highest during the cool season. The potential evapotranspiration (PET), which ranges from 1.200 mm to 2.000 mm, greatly exceeds the average rainfall, but because soil moisture is usually severely lacking during most of the year, actual evapotranspiration amounts only to a fraction of PET. 2.1.2 Physiography: The territory of the ROY may be divided into the following four main physiographic regions: 1. The coastal plains running 30-60 km wide along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which receive low to very low rainfall, are hot and humid. They contain numerous intermittent wadis with substantial spate irrigated agricultural land. They are subdivided into three major plains, namely: i) Tihama, ii) Tuban-Abyan, and iii) Ahwar-Meifa'ah; 2. The Yemen Mountains with very irregular and dissected topography and elevations ranging from a few hundred meters, to 3,760 m. It is a volcanic region running parallel to the Red Sea coast, which comprises the Western, Southern and Eastern Slopes as well as the Highland Plains. The steep Western and Southern Slopes with rainfall ranging from 300-1 000 mm support high population densities practicing rain-fed agriculture on terraces, while the Eastern Slopes with smoother topography and low average rainfall decreasing eastward, are sparsely populated; 3. The Eastern Plateaus and Desert Region: The hot and dry Eastern Plateaus receive little rainfall (<100 mm) and are deeply dissected by Wadi Hadramawt and its tributaries, whose floods may be devastating. The population density is low, mostly concentrated in pump irrigated agricultural lands of the Wadi Hadramawt gorges. This region is subdivided into i) the Northern and ii) the Southern Plateau zones, iii) Wadi Hadramawt and, iv) Al Ghaydah basin. The Deserts located between the Highlands and the Eastern Plateaus, are the Ramlat As Sabatayn to the south, where rainfall and vegetation are nearly absent, and the Rub Al Khali to the north, which is among the most desolate deserts in the world; 4. The Islands (more than 120 islands), including Socotra with its unique biodiversity of exuberant fauna and flora in the Arabian Sea. 2.1.3 Geology: Yemen geology is composed of quarterly deposits, volcanic rocks and basalt, as well as tertiary Jurassic and Cretaceous formations. Quarterly deposits are distributed over most of the country, especially in the coastal plains, the eastern plateaus, the Rub Al-Khali and Ramlat Sabatayn deserts and in Hadramawt. This class covers over 30% of the republic. Volcanic rocks are found in most of the central and southern highlands, whereas basalt, which is found in central and southern parts, of the country does not cover more than 10% of the country's surface area. The cretaceous formation, which is composed of white calcic rocks, limestone and sandstone is principally, found in At-Tawila unit. The Jurassic formation is found mainly in Amran and Kuhlan units. 2.1.4 Soils: The principal soil types encountered in the various physiographic regions are as follows: 1. The coastal plains soils are either alluvial fans or coarse inter-wadi soils. In wadis and floodplains the soils are loamy to silt and clay and form good agricultural land. The inter-wadi areas are dominated by dune formations and coarse skeletal sandy soils subject to wind erosion. The coastal fringes of the plains consist of extremely saline tidal flats or sabkhas with a high water table; 2. The soils of the Western Slopes range from bare rock and very shallow soils near the mountain peaks, stony and very stony calcareous soils with PH around eight and low organic matter in the middle


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slopes. The lower slopes have generally deep silty and loamy soils. This region has relatively extensive alluvial loams and silt loams which make good agricultural lands. Around Ibb, thick loess deposits occur which have developed deep silty soils. The Southern parts of the Midlands are occupied by, rock outcrops with pockets of shallow soil; 3. The Highlands have large stretches of plains between the mountains, which constitute extensive loamy, silty and fine silty soils on level surfaces, one third of, which bear organic matter within the surface layer. Associated with these soils are a minor component of clayey soils, which also have a dark layer rich in humus. These constitute very productive agricultural lands. On the lower slopes of the Highlands, silt loams and silt clay loams prevail, while the flat basins include silt and loamy soils; 4. The Eastern Slopes region comprises mainly rock outcrops, with some shallow soils confined to pockets. Deep loamy soils are only encountered within local depressions and wadis; and 5. In the Eastern Plains, the wadis adjoining flood plains have deep alluvial soils, which are medium textured, while the restricted areas where flooding takes place regularly, have stratified sandy loams and silt loams. 2.1.5 Biological resources (flora and fauna): “The vegetation of Yemen is a mixture of the tropical African, Sudanian plant geographical region and the extra-tropical Saharo-Arabian plant geographical region”9 Thanks to great changes in landform and climate within relative short distances, Yemen is endowed with a rich variety of habitats, species and genetic diversity. However, human settlement, landscape transformation and over-exploitation of biological resources have resulted in major reductions in plant and animal species following deterioration of their habitat. It is generally admitted that Yemen was gratified with extensive vegetative cover in the past. At present, a great deal of this has been converted to cultivated land, bare lands and open shrub-land. Despite this degradation, Yemen comprises a quite diversified natural flora composed of some 3000 species ranging from common forbs to endemic species and from annuals to shrubs and trees. According to Al-Khuleidi (1995), 20% of the species are endemic. Socotra Island considered as the richest area, contains more than 680 species. Of these, 215 are endemic while 8 are endangered10. The Yemeni Highlands are characterized by a high coverage of perennial grasses and herbs. They generally establish either on rocky sites, where excess water is available in the cracks between rocks, or on level ground, where they can hardly be seen, as they are severely overgrazed. Most of these species seem well adapted to severe grazing intensities. Yemen is also one of the world’s main centres of succulent distribution. Their variety is large and a considerable number of them can only be found in Yemen, where they are considered endemic. The vegetation cover’s regression has resulted in sizeable animal wildlife habitat reduction. The fauna has moreover been put under severe competition due to steadily increasing domestic livestock herds. 2.2 Land resources: 2.2.1 Agricultural resources: Yemen is one of the oldest agricultural civilizations in the world and despite the arid climate agriculture has always been a major sector of the economy. Some 70% of the Yemeni population live in rural areas and draw a substantial part of their livelihood from farming. Agriculture is the largest sector of the economy in terms of employment (58%) and contribution to GDP (17% without Qat and 30% with qat). The Yemeni agricultural sector has witnessed significant change since the country opened to modernization in 1970. From 1970 to 1996, agriculture’s share in GDP declined from almost 45% to 17% (excluding qat production) and in the labour force it dropped from 75 to 58%, mainly as a result of the faster growth of other sectors of the

9 Environmental Protection Council – The Vegetation of the Republic of Yemen (Western Part) by: Paul Scholte, Abdu Wali Al Khuleidi and Jan Joost Kessler, 1991 (ARA?DHV Consultants BV). 10 Registered in the red book/catalogue of the IUCN.


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economy. However, during that period the absolute number of people employed in agriculture increased from 1.2 to 1.6 million, while the value-added in agriculture increased from USD 240 million to 1.1 billion. The cropped area decreased slightly from 1.27 to 1.10 million ha, and the rain-fed area declined by roughly 50% from 1.1 to 0.6 million ha. Meanwhile, the irrigated area increased by nearly 150%, from 0.2 to 0.5 million ha, mostly from the expansion in well irrigation made possible by drilling and pumping technologies. Yemen’s limited natural resource and agricultural base is already under stress because of the rapidly declining groundwater tables and watershed and range deterioration. The rangelands and range woodlands, which provide catchment areas for wadis, forage and grazing for livestock as well as firewood, and vegetation cover are consistently and drastically being reduced due to their overexploitation over the last few decades. Subsequently, resource conservation is the key to sustainability of agricultural production and the continued viability of the rural economy. 2.2.2 Natural woodland resources: The most recent assessment of Yemen’s woodland resources has been completed in 199311. The total woodland area has been estimated at 2.4 million hectares, i.e. approximately 5% of the country’s surface area. Of this, some 400,000 ha are composed of agro-forestry and date palm formations. The national woodland resources are, mainly characterized by a very low crown density. Areas of woodland with crown density greater than 50% are very small and pure woodlands are very rare as well (M. Houmymid, 1996). In the escarpments and western mountain region, which host more than 75% of the totality of the national woodland resource, traditional agricultural practices include significant areas of productive, well-managed multipurpose tree formations. The central highlands host about 17% of the country’s woodland resources, while the coastal area and Al-Mahara comprise respectively 7% and 0.7% of the woodland resources. 2.2.3 Rangeland resources: “Rangelands cover 40% of the total land area of Yemen, i.e. 22.6 million hectares”12 This takes however into account, not only the rangelands or pasture lands proper, but includes forests and woodlands as well as agro-forestry tree/shrub formations. Following this definition, rangelands include a wide spectrum of woody species, grasses and forbs and comprise a number of succulent plants belonging to the Euphorbia and cactus-like species. 2.3 Water resources13: Surface water flows throughout Yemen are limited to periodic flood overflows14 associated with occasional intense or extended rainfall, and to residual flows from seepage and/or springs. The regime of streams is extremely flashy; it is not rare to observe the discharge in major wadis increase from less than 1 m3/second to as much as 500 m3/second or even 1000 m3/second within 24 hours time. The flood peaks carry much sediment and may be very destructive. Surface waters are primarily used for spate irrigation and natural recharge of aquifers. Groundwater systems are in a dynamic state, as a result of replenishment and discharge processes. Direct recharge of groundwater is generally very low in Yemen; it occurs mainly by infiltration of surface water from wadis. Groundwater discharge through abstraction has gained enormously in importance over the last three decades. Estimates of groundwater storage and of current rates of abstraction and recharge for the major aquifer complexes are listed in table 1.

11 By the Hunting Technical Company, on behalf of the Land and Water Conservation Project (LWCP). 12 Source: Aden Agenda, Agricultural policies and strategies in Yemen. MAI, August 1999. 13 Source National Action Plan to Combat Desertification – FAO/ROY/UNDP, November 2000. 14 Intercepted for agricultural purposes.


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Table 1: Current abstraction/recharge rates and groundwater storage for the main aquifer complexes in Yemen

Aquifer complex Approx. annual

abstraction Approx. average annual recharge

Fresh groundwater

stored in acquifers

Tihama quaternary aquifer Southern coastal plains Extended Mukalla complex Highland plains Total

810 Mm3

225 Mm3 575 Mm3 500 Mm3

2,110 Mm3

550 Mm3 375 Mm3 500 Mm3 100 Mm3

1,525 Mm3

250,000 Mm3 70,000 Mm3

10,000,000 Mm3 50,000 Mm3

10,370,000 Mm3

Source: The Water resources of Yemen Report WRAY-35 (page 88) It is clear that nation-wide, groundwater extraction exceeds by far recharge. However, for individual major aquifers, the situation is much worse. The most endangered aquifer systems in this respect are those of the Highland Plains whose groundwater storage capacity is limited and where extraction amount to five times the recharge rates. The rates of groundwater lessening levels are alarmingly high in many zones, especially in the Highlands where declining trends between two and six m/year are commonly observed (Report WRAY-35,). Agricultural water use in 1990, accounted for 93% of total water use in the Republic of Yemen. The increasing demand for water in agriculture is a major concern. The demands for 1999 were estimated to be 2,565 Mm3 with an annual increase of about 3%. Low irrigation efficiencies and poor water management practices contribute to rising irrigation water demands. Furthermore, the absence of appropriate policies and regulations for water resources management for the last few decades was an important factor behind the water crisis in Yemen. According to the Environmental Impact Assessment for Water Resources Planning Sector15, “in excess of 2,000 Mm3 are withdrawn from Yemen's northern, eastern and western basin aquifers annually.... The estimable depletion rate of 860 Mm3/year in excess of annual recharge potential represents some 5% of the usable storage of these aquifers...”. This rate is bound to increase greatly in the future. According to Sadek N. Al-Nabhani (March 2000), the average annual rate of depletion of aquifers in Yemen is very important as it varies from 1-8 meters. If the current rates of groundwater abstraction were to be maintained, it is believed that the city of Sana’a might run dry in ten years time, while the last drop of groundwater in Yemen would be pumped in 40 years time. It is widely acknowledged that the country faces a grave water crisis, which if left unattended would threaten the survival of cities and rural settlements alike. Imperative and urgent action to pull the country from the brink of disaster is clearly needed. The WM&SMD Programme should prove to be very useful in improving and sustaining the water production potential and functions of upstream watersheds. Providing water demands for a rapidly growing population has resulted in a considerable imbalance between supply and demand. The total water demand for the country during the plan period (1996-2000) was estimated to increase from 2,817 Mm3 in 1996 to 2,932 Mm3 in year 2000, with 90% for agriculture, 8% for domestic water and 1.5% for industry. Future projections for the year 2010 put the total water demand at 3.3 billion cubic meters. 2.4 Population and demography16:

15 Volume VIII published in 1992. 16 Source: National Action Plan to Combat Desertification – FAO, GOY, UNDP: November 2000.


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2.4.1 Population parameters: The ROY has an estimated population of 17.07 million growing at an annual rate of 3.7% (1998 statistics, NIC). It has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Maintaining the present growth rate, will double the population once more in less than 20 years. The average annual population growth rate for urban areas was equivalent to 7.03% as compared to 3.74% in rural areas, during the period 1986/88-199417 indicating the importance of rural-urban migration. Yemen's total fertility rate of 7.4 births/woman is the highest in the Middle East-North Africa Region, while the female primary school enrolment rate (37%) and life expectancy at birth (57 years) are the lowest. The country’s population density has increased from 21 persons/km2 in 1990 to 27 persons/km2 in 1994. Three governorates (Ibb, Taïz, Al-Mahweet) display population densities in excess of 100/km2. Four governorates, which cover only 12% of the country's surface area, form 50% of the total national population. Their respective percentage of national population is as follows: i) Taïz: 14%; ii) Ibb: 12.4%; iii) Sana'a: 12%; and iv) Hodeidah: 11%. 18 The bulk of Yemeni society consists of tribal members. The tribal configuration of Yemeni society has significant implications for development policies and approaches especially when considering the strong influence of customary regulations on attitudes and behaviours. In the rural areas of Yemen, there is a long-standing cooperative ethic, since Islamic and tribal customary laws emphasize cooperation according to consensus. In this general social context in which tribalism is a dimension of decentralization, a number of developmental and social issues will need to be addressed through decentralized community-based approaches which attempt to set up grass-roots institutions and to define decision-making mechanisms at local level. 2.4.2 Spatial and temporal mobility of populations: The present population distribution is a reflection of internal rural-urban and urban-urban migration trends. It also results from external migration, mainly to the Gulf countries. There is at present a net annual transfer of some 40,000 persons from rural to urban areas. Emigration patterns are in fact very complex in Yemen and even when away, rural Yemenis never lose contact with their keens and their land. The governorates with the highest rates of out migration have all a strong agricultural vocation and are facing intense pressures due to high propriety fragmentation and fast population growth19. 2.4.3 The gender issue: Generally speaking, women care for small livestock herds and contribute to farm labour. In addition, they are in charge of household activities - cooking, fetching water, collecting fuel-wood, washing, child rearing etc. In general, they are not recognized as farmers20 and they do not have access to resources, inputs, and services. Even though their share of work in the household and on farm is by far the most important, women are not decision makers and are not involved in development programmes. It is through their role as wife and mother that women gain status and can eventually gain a measure of power. 2.4.4 Employment: Unemployment and over-employment were already chronic and worsening before unification. Since then, the situation has further aggravated as a direct consequence of: i) the 1990 Gulf War's influx of some 750 000 returnee expatriate workers from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries; ii) the influx of some 700 000 Somali refugees in the early 1990's in the wake of the civil strife in the Horn of Africa; iii) the series of natural catastrophes which struck Yemen21; iv) the 1994 internal military conflict and consequent damage to the national economy and infrastructures; v) the effects of the programme of major structural adjustment of the economy etc. 2.4.5 Food consumption patterns and trends: The food self-sufficiency ratio, which was about 75% in 1970, has declined sharply, to less than 30% currently. Moreover, the significant changes 17 Human Development Group. Middle East and North Africa Region. Report No. 16322-Yem, 1997. 18 Source: National Census 1994. 19 Source: Environmental Situation in Yemen. EPC, 1995. 20 Except when left alone to manage the farm. 21 Earthquakes at Ibb & Saada in 1992 and floods in South Eastern provinces (1992, 1993) and in much of the country in 1996.


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in food consumption patterns have increased Yemen’s dependency on imported food products. Food consumption patterns have experienced drastic changes in less than 3 decades (1961/63-1988/90). Rural households have reduced their reliance on subsistence products and adopted new consumption patterns, which include among others, rice, sugar, wheat, vegetable oils etc. Wheat, the most popular cereal is largely imported and was heavily subsidized. Wheat subsidy in 1995 amounted to YR 10 billion and it was expected to raise to YR 34 billion (5% of GDP) in 1996. Wheat consumption has increased 8 folds. Rice follows in order of importance as its availability mainly through imports has increased by 5 folds. The per-capita availability of sugar also largely imported, increased by more than 50%. The per-capita vegetable oil supply increased by almost 600%. The per-capita poultry consumption increased from 0.4 kg/head/year to 6.6 kg/head/year To dispose of the necessary cash money for these products, farmers have introduced within their often limited and marginal holdings, unsustainable cash crop cultivation (cotton tobacco etc.) at the expense of the previous sustainable subsistence production systems. 2.5 Animal resources: Throughout the past decades, Yemen’s animal population has expanded steadily and abnormally, considering the limited “carrying capacity” of natural rangelands and woodlands. Previous official figures22 available for the Yemen Arab Republic23 (YAR) indicate that the animal population had doubled between 1970 and 1980. In comparison, the increase in animal population during the last decade (1990- 1999) has been less spectacular, being estimated at 22.5% (Table 2). Table 2: Livestock evolution (number of heads) and variation in %, between 1990 and 1999.

Year

Sheep

Goats

Cattle

Camels

Total

Variation %

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

3,756,190 3,568,383 3,639,751 3,677,257 3,714,763 3,751,477 3,922,359 4,266,690 4,527,094 4,667,049

3,333,090 3,166,441 3,229,770 3,263,382 3,296,995 3,328,442 3,557,523 3,881,375 4,088,895 4,204,170

1,175,272 1,116,917 1,139,256 1,151,076 1,162,896 1,174,313 1,180,934 1,201,216 1,263,483 1,281,975

174,790 166,053 169,374 171,102 172,830 175,316 179,020 181,132 182,936 185,170

8,439,342 8,017,794 8,248,151 8,262,817 8,347,484 8,429,448 8,839,836 9,530,413

10,062,408 10,338,364

- 4.99 % - 2.27 % - 2.01 % - 1.10 % - 0.12 % + 4.75 % + 12,93 % + 19 23 % + 22, 50 %

Increase (90-99) 24.3 % 26.1 % 9.1 %

5.9 %

22.5 %

Source: 1999 Agricultural Statistics Book, Mai 2000. MAI and Yemen Information Centre. The population remained virtually constant from 1990 to 1995, passing from 8, 439,342 to 8, 429,448 heads. The overall increase (22.5 %) took place lately, between 1995 and 1999. This is worrisome, considering that the animal population has now reached over 10 million heads, while natural pastures have been further degraded. Moreover, the reduction of fodder production from rangelands has in no way been compensated by an increase in agricultural fodder production. Goats and sheep, which depend most on rangelands and woodlands constitute the major component of Yemen’s livestock population. They amounted to 8,871,219 heads in 1999, equivalent to 85.8% of the animal population.

22 “National Report – ROY – Environment Development”, EPC. 23 Present northern governorates of the ROY.


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The 1999 animal population of the eight governorates targeted by the present WM&SMD Programme is presented in Table 3 below. The sheep population equals 2,503,765 heads, representing 53.6% of the country total. Surprisingly, Sana’a alone hosts 39.8% of the country’s sheep population. The goat population (1,934,188 heads) of these governorates constitutes 46% of the country’s total, while cattle and camels represent respectively 64.3% and 29.2% of the country’s whole. The governorates of Sana’a, Aden, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahej, Dhamar, Shabwa and Mahweet host 51.6% of the total livestock population of Yemen. While it is no surprise to note that Aden hosts a modest animal population (160,499 heads), it is astounding to realize that a governorate full of potential such as Mahweet, only hosts 106,172 heads of livestock. Table 3: Distribution of the animal population in the eight governorates targeted by the WM&SMD Programme.

Animal Population year 1999 (heads) Country Governorate Sheep Goats Cattle Camels

Total (heads)

Total country 4,667,049 4,204,170 1,281,975 185,170 10,338,364 Governorates Sana’a Aden Taiz Hodeidah Lahej Dhamar Shabwa Mahweet

996,905 47,613

134,108 346,650 308,772 359,016 272,803 37,898

488,531 106,975 204,121 306,290 389,134 131,024 280,631 27,482

213,480

3,825 160,039 196,101 68,466

140,024 1,481

39,993

5,686 2,086 5,467

17,318 9,996 5,253

13,216 799

1,704,602

160,499 503,735 866,359 776,368 653,317 568,131 106,172

Total Governorates

2,503,765 1,934,188 823,403 54,133 5,334,183

% of country 53.6 % 46 % 64.3 % 29.2 % 51.6 % Source: 1999 Agricultural Statistics Book, Mai 2000. MAI and Yemen Information Centre. 2.6 Resource management trends in Yemen: Misuse of natural resources: Environmental degradation impacts are serious and often critical in Yemen where net population growth exceeds 3% per year, agricultural land is limited, holdings per family remain small, rainfall and surface water flows are erratic, and groundwater is overexploited and used inefficiently. This leads to a continued and relentless exertion of pressure on resources and on lands, regardless of their relative fragility and scarcity. A spiralling form of resource degradation takes place as a consequence, which causes reduction of land productivity and primary goods’ availability resulting in progressive abandonment of traditional community-based resource management systems. Following are some forms of misuse of resources:

R Qat consumption: Qat's consumption, which was confined to the elite in the past, has become widespread both in the north and in the south of the republic in recent years. Besides their negative impact on individual household budgets, qat issues are central to food security, water use, and agricultural growth in general. Despite the lack of reliable statistics, it is estimated that qat’s cultivation over some 80,000 ha of very productive land accounts for 30 to 40% of the total water use in Yemen.

Energy consumption patterns: A World Bank mission estimated in 1983 that the total fuel-wood consumption in YAR was 5 million m3 (3 million tons) in 1982; it projected that fuel-wood consumption would reach 8.5 million m3 by the year 2,000, at which time; it was believed that fuel-wood supplies would have disappeared. Numerous other variable estimates have been proposed which indicated the negative impact of fuel-wood collection on the woody biomass and predicted also that by the year 2,000, the total available woody biomass would be exhausted (A.C. Millington for UNDP/WB Energy Sector


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Management Programme, December 1988). While these previsions have proven to be very pessimistic as regards the predicted exhaustion of the woody biomass, they nevertheless provide a good picture of the dramatic acuteness of woodlands and rangelands over-exploitation. Land use versus carrying capacity24: The present human and animal population levels reached in many parts of the country have by far exceeded the carrying capacity of the land. As a result, more land is reclaimed at the expense of rangelands and woodlands on very steep slopes of the upper mountain parts or on shallow and/or sandy soils in dry areas. The unsustainable operation of putting marginal land under production leads invariably to land abandonment after production costs prove to be uneconomical. Misuse of woodland resources: Depletion of plant cover through over-exploitation and clearing of woody vegetation for fuel-wood and construction wood is of major concern as these domestic products are highly demanded and their exploitation remains a very lucrative form of trade. Improved transport facilities and recent increase in gas prices have seriously curbed the substitution of fuel wood by alternative sources of energy. The natural annual wood increment represents only a small fraction of the population's current needs of fuel-wood. Furthermore, woodlands have been and are still eradicated for agricultural land reclamation, particularly in the Tihama and in the mountain regions. The present depletion of the natural vegetative cover is in no way counterbalanced by afforestation activities. Even though the largest degradations may have taken place in the 70s and 80s, the process is still underway. Misuse of rangeland resources: Overgrazing of rangelands is regularly cited as a major cause of degradation. Yet, little is actually known concerning the grazing pressure on rangelands. According to official figures (see details in table 2), the total animal population increase between 1990 (8,439,34225) and 1999 (10,062,40826) has not been so dramatic. It seems however; that it is between 1970 and 1980 that the grazing intensity exerted on rangeland was most dramatic, rising from 1.43 head/ha to a sudden 2.87 head/ha in the northern governorates27. Therefore, it can be stated that dramatic extensive rangeland degradation processes were initiated during this period. This statement is supported by FAO Agrostat files, according to which, sheep population rose from 2.3 million in 1969-1971 to 3.7 million in 1988-1990, and the goat population from 2.7 million to 3.1 million for the same period. Rangelands continue to be affected by very severe degradation processes, the extent of which needs to be evaluated. Indeed, overgrazing, uprooting of large quantities plant cover of various range species for fuel-wood, rangeland reclamation for urban and industrial development, have all contributed significantly to reduction of rangeland areas. They have also been a factor in the decline in range biomass, in fodder production and in the undesirable shift in the composition and distribution of species composition as well as in the decline in species’ diversity28. Misuse of water resources: Because there are no networks monitoring surface water, the implications associated with runoff and storage have not been investigated or documented in any detail for Yemen. Even though no sediment transport monitoring has been carried out in the country, it is a fact that sediment transport by the streams is considerable. The already alarming groundwater situation has worsened since 1990, as the overall water consumption in 1995 has increased by 8-10%. The additional quantity of water was provided for, essentially through increase groundwater abstractions. Some drastic changes in land occupation and water abstraction have occurred in some southern governorates, particularly in Tuban Delta, which have not yet been fully assessed and accounted for. Irreversible reduction of basin storage is typical problem associated with groundwater depletion. This plus other indirect effects such as increased soil salinity, drying up of numerous springs and wells and increased cost of groundwater abstraction for agriculture, result in

24 See definition of carrying capacity as an ecological concept in paragraph 3.2. 25 Source: 1999 Agricultural Statistics Book, Mai 2000. MAI and Yemen Information Centre. 26 Source: 1999 Agricultural Statistics Book, Mai 2000. MAI and Yemen Information Centre. 27 “National Report – ROY – Environment and Development”, EPC. 28 Source: FAO Sana’a, July 98–Community participation in land resources management–Management of tradit. grazing reserves, by: M.G. Zaroug.


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abandonment of large areas of barren agricultural fields29 subject to acute wind and water erosion processes as well as in induced poverty and migration trends. Water quality deterioration and decline induce critical degradation mechanisms as well as significant and irreversible changes in phreatic vegetation in wadi courses and coastal zones. Groundwater exhaustion is in itself, the most acute form of desertification as it is an irreversible process in the sense that neither nature's resilience, nor man's curative actions can help sustain volumes of water for future generations. Groundwater depletion and sustainability of the resource are the country's dominant medium to long-term environmental problem. Almost all groundwater systems are being over-exploited at an alarming rate. Increasing upstream water use, more intensive water diversion and widespread water harvesting have a definite influence on runoff water distribution downstream since runoff volumes reaching the lower areas are decreasing systematically. This, combined with important declines in groundwater levels and water quality changes, must without the shadow of a doubt, result in the alteration or even the destruction of extensive specific fauna and flora habitats, endangering numbers of species with specific environmental requirements. This continuous degradation process has neither been thoroughly studied nor documented. Inadequate agricultural practices: The application of an often mechanized and repeated single or double crop system in rain-fed areas, has led to soil loss through wind and water erosion, decrease in fertility and subsequently decline in crop yields. More marginal lands being put under cultivation even during years with rainfall deficit fail to produce crops and are abandoned barren, ready to contribute to erosion, while other marginal lands, await to be cultivated. The result of such practices in the mountain areas water erosion, which affects all lands downstream and ultimately results in widespread degradation. Lack of maintenance of agricultural land and terraces: Yemeni agriculture has moved very quickly from subsistence (rain-fed and spate irrigated) agriculture to an, ever-growing modern market oriented agriculture, without having had time to adjust and conform to environmentally friendly modern farming practices. Consequently, much cultivated land has been mined to the point of abandonment, resulting in one or a combination of serious soil degradation forms (salinity, alkalinity, loss of fertility, wind and/or water erosion…). Labour shortages due to massive migration of farmers have caused the marginal and labour-intensive lands to be abandoned. Traditional farming systems based on intensive labour have been discontinued and a process of farming modernization has taken place which has encouraged intensification and expansion of farms at the expense of smaller, marginal holdings which were abandoned to unchecked erosion processes. Abandonment of rain-fed agriculture land is a recurrent event, closely linked to levels of precipitation. However, rain-fed agriculture lands may be definitely abandoned following soil fertility exhaustion and erosion. This is generally very difficult to assess, as no continuous monitoring of land occupation exists and because these lands can degrade into mobile sand sheets and dunes or can improve to rangeland. The current threat to rain-fed farming on hillside terraces is the result of: i) a combination of decline in income from terraced crop production with major socio-economic changes; ii) a tardy government recognition of their national economic importance; iii) competition by agricultural areas benefiting from highly subsidized groundwater irrigation; iv) subsidized imports as well as illegal imports of competing crops such as wheat; v) recent severe drought cycles, and specifically the most recent from 1989 to 1991; vi) decline in fertility etc. All of these combined factors lead to farmers’ emigration to neighbou-ring Gulf countries and main Yemeni cities, in search for complementary incomes; this resulted in reduced terrace maintenance and/or in terraces abandonment.

29 Not yet assessed.


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Irrigated agricultural land abandonment is also common though not assessed. It usually stems from intense water erosion on terraced and wadi agricultural lands in the mountain regions, or from excessive groundwater abstraction leading to drying out of wells, boreholes etc. Misuse of mountain resources: Mountains and watersheds are characterized by their poor conditions resulting mainly from population pressure and socio-economic changes. These factors lead to an important reduction of arable and grazing lands, accelerated erosion and sedimentation of reservoirs and irrigation channels, reduction of water resources and decline in forestry and livestock production. Following forest, range and terraces degradation in Yemen’s watershed basins, the rainfall available is poorly utilized as a result of excessive runoff and lack of water storage facilities to retain and utilize prolifically the significant amounts of precipitation in agricultural production or to recharge aquifers. As a result the livelihood of mountain people is at risk. Previous studies indicate that Yemen’s mountain regions whose environment, is very fragile, face presently complex problems and constraints. These studies also suggest that such problems require multidisciplinary approaches, strategies and multidimensional interventions. The principal challenges that affect the majority of their population and the country’s resources include those related to:

R Standards of living; R Land resources deterioration; R Human resources empowerment; R Management and institutional capacities gaps; R Planning and development approaches and strategies; R Disparity, inequality, and marginality; R Technical and indigenous knowledge gaps.

2.7 Economic features: 2.7.1 Place of agricultural sector in national economy: While the agricultural share of the GDP was superior to 75% in 1975/76, it has declined to a mere 20% of GDP in 1991. This, results from declining remittances and agricultural investment, shortage of and high cost of labour, steady degradation of agricultural lands and lack of competitiveness of local agricultural products with imported ones. Crops represented by far, the most important share in the GDP (US$ 1,232.5 million), followed by livestock rearing (US$ 296.6 million). Even though the livestock population is excessive in relation to the rangelands’ carrying capacity, it does not meet the country's needs in terms of meat and milk production. Fisheries come third in importance (US$ 71.3 million) within the agricultural sector 2.7.2 Place of forestry in the agricultural economy: The relatively small area of natural woodlands and forests relegates the importance of the forestry sector to securing the well being of the rural inhabitants by providing essential products such as fodder, timber, fruits, firewood etc. Indeed, forestry's place in the economy30 is rather modest as it occupies a humble fourth place (US$ 55.7 million) within the agricultural sector, mainly because forest products are collected free of charge, and deemed without initial financial value. Moreover, forestry’s numerous services are neither assessed nor quantified in economic or social terms. In addition, Yemen’s woodland resources are rich sources of non-wood products, such as honey, tannins, gums, fruits and various medicinal plants and products. These are important for household consumption, some of them making a major contribution to the rural economy. Considering that the country suffers from significant forest products shortages, these are imported to meet domestic needs. Import of industrial wood, cork, pulp, paper, and paperboard is rising continuously owing to population increase, urbanization and economic development in the last decades. The value of forest products imported rose from about YR 550 million in 1985 to more than one billion YR in 1997. Imports of forest products will surely continue to increase in the future.

30 In monetary terms.


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2.8 General setting31: 2.8.1 Administrative set-up and organisation32: Founded on 22/05/1990, after unifying North and South Yemen, the present Republic of Yemen (ROY) is administratively divided into governorates and districts. Sana’a, labelled as the Capital’s Secretariat, has a special status. Yemen has been characterized by a highly centralized administrative system of deconcentrated field offices of sector ministries and agencies. The administrative system is basically a three-tier system consisting of the following levels: 1) Central government ministries and agencies; 2) the level of governorates; 3) the district level. The central state executive: It includes such organs as the Presidency of the Republic, the Prime Ministry and the Cabinet. It also consist of other central authorities and government organs, as well as all other national establishments and public corporations and bodies run by the central government. There are 29 ministries and 6 ministries of state, including cabinet ministers, state ministers, vice ministers and deputy ministers. The central government ministries and agencies are hierarchical organizations that have an extensive network of branch offices. They are characterized by a weak inter-ministerial coordination at national level, particularly with regard to financial transfers to local administrations. Other important agencies at the central level include the Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA), the Social Welfare Fund and the Road Fund. The governorate level: It includes governors, branches of the sector ministries and other government organs. There are 21 governorates, including the cities of Sana’a and Aden, which have a special status. These regional units are, headed by a governor appointed by the President. The governor reports to the President and the Cabinet; he supervises the enforcement of legislation and policies within the governorate’s administration. Governorates also include a number of sector ministry branches led by directors and officers posted by the Ministry of Finance. The branch directors are not directly subordinated to the governor, despite his rank as cabinet minister, but they refer to their respective ministries. Governorates may include some central government agencies, which are currently given some autonomy by their respective ministries. The district level: The district includes administrative units headed by directors, sub-branches and offices of some ministries and other organs. There are currently 332 districts, but cities and larger districts are planned to be, split into smaller units, which would increase the number of districts to some 360. The district administration is lead by a District General Director (DGD) who refers to the governor. He is, appointed by the Minister of Local Administration. The DGD is the chairman of the District Local Council and heads the executive offices of the district. Since the new Local Authority Act and following decentralization, each administrative unit (governorate/district) has its own local authority, which consists of the appointed Head of the Unit (governor/DGD), the elected Local Council (district, governorate) in the two tiers, and the Executive Organs (branches and offices of ministries and government agencies). Both the local council and the executive organs in each administrative unit are headed either by the governor at governorate level or the DGD at district level. The local authority is based on the principles of financial and administrative decentralization. It is to operate on the basis of people’s participation in decision-making and in the administration of local affairs through the elected local councils. Local authorities have the ability to propose investment plans, programmes and budgets of the councils and possess, a supervisory right over the executive organs’ performance and their accountability to the local authority accordingly. The executive organs are to act as the administrative, technical and executive organs of the local councils. They are to operate under the local councils’ supervision and control. The elected local councils may be considered as local legislative bodies in the administrative units. 31 Source: National Action Plan to Combat Desertification – FAO, GOY, UNDP: November 2000. 32 Source: UNDAF Report No 1 “Assessment of the Decentralization Reform in Yemen”15.8.2000.


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2.8.2 Political and legislative framework: Most of the modern legislation is relatively new in Yemen, especially that relative to environmental issues. Inherited from the former YAR and PDRY, the legal system based on Islamic, French, English and customary laws is still valid and will be until new legislations are adopted. Among the drafted modern laws dealing with general as well as specific environmental issues, are the comprehensive Environmental Protection Law, The Forest Policy and Law, the Water Law etc. The local authority law, which was passed by the Parliament and approved by Presidential Decree in February 2000 stipulates that “…. The local authority law system is based on the principle of administrative and financial decentralization, and on the basis of expansion of popular participation in decision-making and management of local concerns in the sphere of economic, social and cultural development”33. The law was to be implemented immediately after the local elections, which were held in February 2001 in 20 governorates and 326 districts; Law No: 4 for Local Authority grants wider power to the elected local governments, which should acquire the authority and capacity to collect local taxes and provide local services. Achieving decentralization will therefore depend on how successful will be the efforts made to set-up new institutions and to transfer responsibilities and resources (part of the resources could originate from donor funds affected to the Programme and or to related local development schemes); 2.8.3 National development plans and policies: The awareness of the challenges of sustained development has grown over the last decade. The Government has stated that the inter-relationship between socio-economic growth and sound environmental management is a major item in the country's development agenda, and its growth-oriented development strategy. The latter aims at increased food production and industrialization, is based on sustained utilization of the country's natural resources. These concerns are documented i.e. in the General Economic Memorandum presented by the Government at the Round Table Conference in Geneva in 1992 and in the Five-year Development Plan 1996-2000. The latter focuses on the challenges of environmental degradation as exemplified by water scarcity and pollution, degradation of agricultural land, range and forest resources etc. The plan also states that environmental considerations have to be made in all phases and at all stages of development planning. 2.9 Linkages with current key priorities and strategies: The “Vision 2025” considers high population growth34, water scarcity, public administration and governance as the main challenges facing Yemen in the future. Recent reports and studies addressing developmental issues in the country indicate that land resources in general, and watershed management in particular are critical for Yemen. They also acknowledge that poverty, which has reached alarming proportions,35 is a major matter of concern. Its principal causes are mentioned as Vision 2025 challenges. Other causes are: i) inefficient civil service; ii) corruption and lack of accountability; iii) decreased remittances; iv) illiteracy; v) women’s marginal status etc. A summary of the key priority areas identified by various partner institutions is presented below: 2.9.1 Priorities Identified by the Government: The Government of the ROY has identified six major development priorities for the long-term, namely: 1) increasing food security; 2) improving the efficiency of resource use; 3) securing sustainable development and environmental conservation to rural areas; 4) improving rural standards of living; 5) reducing rural to urban migration; and 6) alleviating rural poverty. The Five-Year Development Plan (1996-2000) and the one that follows

33 Local Authority Law: Section 1, article 4. 34 With an annual growth among the highest in the world (3.7%), a fertility rate of 7.5 children/woman, the population doubles every 19 years. 35 Poverty has almost doubled between 1992 & 1998. Households below the “food poverty line” grew from 9-17%, while those below the “upper poverty line” rose from 19-33%.


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(2001-2005) put both emphasis on the sustainable use of land resources, one of their key objectives being to conserve natural resources, including soil, water, forests and rangelands. Strategy elements: Among the various strategy elements devised by the government, the following are, pertinent to the WM&SMD programme: 1) reducing population growth; 2) providing women with choices/opportunities and adopting a gender sensitive development model; 3) developing potential economic sectors, particularly in agriculture; 4) expanding economic opportunities for the rural poor; 5) fostering development through labour-intensive interventions; 6) ensuring food self-sufficiency; 7) enhancing capital assets of the poor; and 8) reviewing and amending the legislation to make sure it is applied and is consistent with the poverty reduction strategy and policies. Priorities and challenges: There is consensus among the Government and its partners on Yemen’s pressing development challenges. Central to all efforts will be poverty eradication. In fact, confronting poverty and alleviating its negative impacts are already being addressed by several programmes and organizations36 nation-wide. The Government’s commitment to address poverty alleviation issues37 and their underlying causes is therefore very strong. Reminding that: “…the government will remain unable to finance the necessary antipoverty programmes … due to lack of resources…” the PRSP38 insists on the indispensable international cooperation and donor assistance in addressing poverty reduction in Yemen. 2.9.2 Priority areas identified by the Aden Agenda (A.A.)39: Critical issues identified: The main problems faced by the agriculture sector, are defined as follows by the A.A.: i) services delivered to farmers are expensive and lack quality and sustainability; ii) MAI’s institutions display low performance records; iii) there is a lack of integration and coordination amid donor agencies; iv) there is a need for cost-sharing in services delivered, and a lack of encouragement to the private sector in supplying such services. Objectives and priorities identified: i) improving work efficiency and upgrading services to farmers; ii) implementing financial and institutional reforms; and iii) improving public institutions’ performance; iv) increasing food security; v) improving the efficiency of resource use; vi) securing sustainability in rural areas’ development and in environmental conservation; vii) improving standards of living in the rural world; viii) alleviating rural poverty; and 6) reducing rural to urban migration. The Aden Agenda also focussed, within its strategic options, on natural resources for sustainable agricultural growth, with special emphasis on incomes generated by rain-fed agriculture. A.A. solutions for sustained agriculture growth: According to the AA, MAI’s main functions in the future will be focused on conservation, protection and development of natural resources through among others, watershed management, groundwater conservation, forestry and rangeland development. Solutions prescribed by the A.A. to improve the agriculture sector are: i) downsizing MAI’s staff; ii) reforming institutions and restructuring budgets and expenditures; iii) developing a plan of action with clear timing, achievement indicators and responsibility for follow-up; and iv) limiting the services provided by the public sector and stressing stakeholder demand-driven services. 2.9.3 Yemen – Netherlands Sector-Wide Programme Approach Cooperation: As a result of major changes in their assistance and technical cooperation framework, the Netherlands have decided, in agreement with the Yemeni Government, to go towards a “Programme Approach”, within the “Sector-Wide Approach” (SWA) to sustain their support. The Sector-Wide Approach is to address

36 National Action Plan for Poverty Eradication (NAPPE); First Five-Year Plan; Economic, Financial and Administrative Reform Program (EFARP); National Committee for Social Safety Net (NCSSN); Steering Committee for the preparation of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP). 37 Draft Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP): Prepared for the World Bank/IDA by the Core Tech. Team, GOY, 15 March 2000. 38 Draft Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). 39 Sources: 1- Workshop on Future Development in Yemen (The Aden Agenda), March 1997 – Prepared for the GOY;


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the fragmentation and high cost of the past development efforts, the absence of sense of ownership on the part of national stakeholders and beneficiaries, the short-term effects and restricted long-term impacts of these initiatives as well as their limited chances for sustainability. According to the Aden Agenda, the SWA is to include at the initial stage, six main areas, namely: 1) rain-fed agriculture and livestock; 2) watershed management and sustainable mountain development; 3) irrigation efficiency; 4) gender policy; 5) desertification control; and 6) rural marketing. These priority areas are complementary and should reinforce one another. They are furthermore entirely relevant to the imbalance existing between the steadily increasing pressure on natural resources and the continuous decline of their potentialities. This, results in additional resources’ deterioration, poverty proliferation food insecurity amplification all of, which are primary concerns of the WM&SMD Programme. Yemen is among a confined number of countries, to which, the Dutch Government has restricted its future cooperation. The Netherlands, are not expected to approve any new project in the future. Instead, the assistance to Yemen, is to be implemented within the “Program Approach”, which concerns a limited number of sectors, including: I) agriculture; ii) health issues; iii) and water resources, with environmental protection and gender issues as cross-sectoral themes. All of these constitute a substantial support to SWA and are in straight line with the WM&SMD Programme and others being proposed for initiation (Wastewater Re-Use and Afforestation, Coastal Sand Dune and Desertification Control). Priorities: The WM&SMD Programme is therefore relevant with regard to the ROY’s and the Netherlands’ Government priorities as it is community-oriented and gender sensitive in its approach to implementation. It is to assist the GOY in the formulation of relevant policies and strategies linking grassroots to macro and central levels. The Programme’s activities aim moreover at having a positive impact on natural resources’ conservation and environmental protection and on food security. Other donor priorities such as governance support, gender equity, capacity building at regional and local levels etc., are totally in accordance with the Programme’s aims and objectives. 2.9.4 Issues, and key priority programmes identified by the UNDP:40 The critical issues, priorities and key programmes for the country by UNDP are: Critical issues: i) explosive demographic growth; ii) absence of job-creation strategies and high unemployment; iii) growing water resources’ scarcity; iv) expanding desertification; v) over-centralized rigid administration with limited civil society participation; and vi) persistence of natural diseases threatening development sustainability. Key priority programmes: i) sustainable environment management with 7 components41; 2) sustainable water resource management with 6 sub-programmes; iii) poverty alleviation and employment generation with 4 key areas42; iv) governance, capacity and institutional reform with 5 key areas43; v) disaster preparedness management and recovery with 5 key areas. 2.9.5 FAO strategic and cooperation priorities: FAO’s cooperation strategy with the ROY aims at adapting its approach in the general field of agricultural development and food security, to the emerging government policy that strives for improved governance, decentralization, accountability, poverty eradication, particularly among the rural poor etc. FAO aims therefore at establishing a

40 Sources: 1) A Study of the Program Approach: the Experience of UNDP in Yemen, July 1999; 2) UNDP Country Program Review, March 2000. Prepared for the GOY by UNDP in cooperation with MPD. 41 1) Support to environmental management; 2) land resource utilization; 3) desertification control; 4) community participation in resource management; 5) eco-tourism; 6) natural bio-diversity strategy; and 7) bio-diversity of Soccotra island 42 1) National policy framework on poverty; 2) formulation of labour policies; 3) support to small enterprises and micro-finance development; and 4) regional development. 43 1) Support to Prime Minister’s office; 2) Civil service and administrative reform; 3) Decentralization/local administration; 4) Capacity development; 5) strengthening the capacity of parliament;


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synergy between its own specificities as Food and Agriculture Organization and the ROY’s national priorities as defined above. FAO’s contribution to the national development effort takes place within projects dealing among others with: i) land and water use; ii) capacity building; iii) marketing; and iv) other initiatives that are essential to productive pursuits and to improve living standards in rural Yemen. Important goal for FAO in Yemen are: i) to build partnerships with donors of like interests; ii) and to concentrate its efforts on community-based development, taking into consideration the invaluable knowledge and experience accumulated and archived over the country, its agricultural sector, its rural populations, which allow for steadily improved development projects’ identification, design, formulation, implementation and management in the fields of agricultural and environmental development. 2.9.6 WFP strategy for Yemen: The World Food Programme’s Yemen strategy for the period 2002-2006 devotes most of its efforts to i) nutritional support for malnourished mothers and children; ii) promotion of primary education access for girls from poor families; iii) income generation and community-based activities. These interventions, which are to be, concentrated in the most vulnerable poverty areas aim at reducing food insecurity. In this regard, the WWP strategy is in line with the WM&SMD Programme’s objectives and content and should prove essential in facilitating participation of the rural poor at all stages of the Programme, from formulation to implementation and assessment. 2.9.7 Issues and recommendations formulated by the World Bank:44 The WB Strategy Note is an input to the formulation of a new national agriculture strategy. Based on the major issues relating to natural resources in Yemen that have been identified, in the World Bank Agriculture Strategy Note, immediate and intense efforts need to be directed towards sustainable natural resources management. This would cover agriculture, forestry, rangeland, watershed management livestock breeding etc. all of, which are in line with the strategy and objectives developed by the present WM&SMD Programme. In this sense, the programs being proposed for initiation (wastewater reuse and forestation, watershed management and sustainable mountain development, coastal sand-dune and desertification control) should answer adequately the concerns expressed by the World Bank Strategy Note. Major issues and key problems to address: The main issues recognized are: i) groundwater overdraft, which affects the water balance; ii) upstream watershed and range degradation; iii) inequality in access to natural resources, particularly to land and water; iv) strong pressure on energy biomass; v) poor productivity and sustainability of irrigated agriculture; and vii) low revenues of rain-fed agriculture and livestock rearing systems. Policy recommendations: They consist in using: i) macro-economic solutions to eliminate and reduce water mining and inefficient water use; ii) technical solutions to develop and disseminate technologies related to improved value added, particularly returns to water; iii) management solutions to offer more responsibility and sense of ownership to farmers and farmer’s institutions for both resource management and service provision. 2.9.8 Priority areas of CCA/UNDAF: Following are some priority areas identified by the United Nations’ Development Assistance Framework’s (UNDAF) Common Country Assessment (CCA) for Yemen. Gender equity: More gender equity is to be achieved by promoting opportunities for women and enhancing their capabilities, so as to empower them and enable them to make informed choices. Governance: Strengthening local governance needs to be achieved by devolving authority and resources to local authorities. This would lessen the confidence gap between society and government

44 World Bank Agriculture Strategy Note, May 1999 – Prepared for the GOY and authorized by the MAI and the WB.


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and should ultimately facilitate mobilizing local resources through tax-collection, donor funding etc. to constitute a major source of investment in local development for the local authorities. Data management for development planning, monitoring and evaluation: The relevance of modern information gathering and processing infrastructures for the future stages of programme development and revision cannot be underestimated as the quality of information determines the effectiveness of future choices, and constitutes the cornerstone for realistic and appropriate policy development, programme planning and decision making. 2.9.9 Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 rationale: The rationale for chapter 13 “Managing fragile ecosystems – Sustainable mountain development” is a universal one, and as such, applies without restriction to the Yemeni context. It is formulated as follows: “Mountains are an important source of water, energy and biological diversity. Furthermore, they are a source of such key resources as minerals, forest products and agricultural products and recreation. As a major ecosystem of our planet, mountain environments are essential to the survival of the global ecosystem. Mountain ecosystems are however rapidly changing. They are susceptible to accelerated erosion, landslides and rapid loss of habitat and of genetic resources. On the human side, there is widespread poverty among mountain inhabitants and loss of indigenous knowledge. As a result, most global mountain areas are experiencing environmental degradation. Hence, the proper management of mountain resources and socio-economic development of the people deserves immediate action” (The United Nations, 1992). International Year of Mountains: One of the most significant decisions regarding mountains since 1997, was the United Nations’ General Assembly resolution of November 1998, declaring 2002 the “ International Year of Mountains” (IYM). “This has served to place the core issues of chapter 13 in an even brighter spotlight and provides an unparalleled opportunity to implement national mountain development on a practical and concrete level that effectively reaches mountain households”45. Many initiatives relating to mountain development have taken place since UNCED. Yemen has chosen to implement in a most comprehensive manner its Mountain Agenda by initiating one of the first National Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development Programmes. Conceived for the effective benefit of local communities, the WM&SMD Programme addresses one of the most daunting challenges of the 21st century. Thanks to it, the mountains of Yemen sustain a better chance of acquiring a special significance during the IYM, as a consequence of, which greater attention will be paid to their conservation and development, as well as to the necessary mobilization of the resources that need to be invested there. At the same time, the decision to hold an international year devoted to mountains, should constitute an outstanding opportunity to reinforce public awareness in the ROY on one hand, and ensure adequate political, institutional and financial commitments to promote future, concrete actions on sustainable mountain development in Yemen and the sub-region. 2.9.10 Conclusions: The GOY and its traditional development cooperation partners are all intent on embracing complementary if not identical priorities for rural development. They all aim, through improved and decentralized governance and enhanced civil society, at conserving and rehabilitating natural resources, combating poverty, improving food security, achieving gender equity, improving education, supporting capacity building etc. In this perspective, the WM&SMD Programme constitutes for all, an initial full-size measure of the righteousness of their priority choices and of the selected approaches to future sustainable development in Yemen. III. MOUNTAIN AND WATERSHED CHARACTERISTICS AND MANAGEMENT 3.1 Surface water systems and drainage:

45 Task Manager Report on Chapter 13 of Agenda 2`1 Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development.


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3.1.1 Hydrographic network: Wadis, the most important source of surface water in Yemen, flow in three main directions and are serviced by three major watershed divides, whose catchment areas lie in the mountainous part of the country. They are: The Western catchment draining to the Red Sea: With a surface area of 36,900 km2, it is composed of nine sub-catchments all, endowed with comparatively high rainfall and the steepest terrain slopes of the country. Both elements favour high flood peaks. Surface outflow to the Red Sea is only occasional, as the stream waters continue moving towards the sea, but underground; The Southern catchment draining to the Gulf of Aden comprises the Wadi Tuban and Wadi Abyan sub-catchments. There is a great deal of similarity with the Red Sea basin, even though the surface water outflow into the Gulf of Aden occurs more frequently, because the plains along the gulf are steeper than along the Red Sea; The Eastern Catchments draining into the interior deserts: They are composed of five sub-catchments, of which the Rub’a Al-Khali basin is the driest. 3.1.2 Main types of watersheds: In terms of watersheds, a hierarchy has been adopted by HWC in 1992, for the purpose of water resources planning. The study has divided the country into the following four types of watersheds46: Continental watersheds: They divide the country into three major catchments, namely the Western Catchment, the Eastern Rub-Al-Khali catchment and the Southern Gulf of Aden catchment; Primary watersheds: Within the continental watersheds, a total of 27 watersheds are delineated, which contain either large catchments or groups of parallel catchments that have relatively minor surface water resources and/or little information on their water resources; Secondary watersheds: These correspond to the subdivision of primary catchments. This is done in two ways: 1) Primary catchments made of parallel catchments are divided into as many secondary watersheds as there are parallel catchments; 2) Primary catchments enclose important tributaries, the individual catchments of, which are considered secondary catchments; Tertiary watersheds: They correspond to further divisions of the secondary watersheds. The list of catchments with their main characteristics is presented in annex 7. 3.2 Agricultural production systems and economics of crop production: The following main agricultural production systems can be distinguished: 3.2.1 Irrigated agriculture: Wadi-irrigated agriculture: It takes place on quite a large scale, by diverting floodwater and fertile sediments into the cultivated fields; it consists of 650,000 ha of relatively flat land in the inter mountain region. Deep groundwater-irrigated agriculture: This system has been developed in the sixties and the seventies by transforming formerly marginal lands, rangelands and woodlands into important cash crop producing areas; the irrigated land is divided into 98,000 ha by spate irrigation, 28,000 ha by spring irrigation and 363,000 ha by well irrigation.

46 Source: A. Maged Al-Hamiary: Yemeni experience in watershed management – Sana’a 10-11/11/1999.


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Irrigated fruits in the coastal areas and in the Highlands: They are considered high value crops with some potential for export. It is necessary, however to keep in mind that the production of potential export fruit crops is water-intensive and that its yields low return per m3 water, which is critical, given the severe water scarcity in Yemen; Irrigated vegetables47 in coastal areas, Highlands and Eastern Plateau: They are an important source of income for small farmers: They generate employment, their production being labour-intensive, and they yield a high return per m3 water. There is much potential for the increase of their productivity, which makes their cultivation an attractive undertaking in the framework of mountain development; Irrigated qat in the highlands: Qat production’s domestic resource cost is advantageous in the Highlands as it is similar to that of the most competitive crops in Yemen. It will therefore take very convincing arguments to reverse the actual trend of qat cultivation’s extension; Irrigated alfalfa in the Highlands and Eastern Plateaus: Alfalfa is an important input for livestock. It is however a water-intensive crop, with annual water requirements as high as 24,000 m3/ha. The returns/m3 of water are nonetheless higher than most of the irrigated fruit crops. Alfalfa’s production should, therefore be encouraged in the highlands, provided water is available in sufficient quantities. 3.2.2 Rain-fed agriculture: Rain-fed cultivation: It takes place opportunistically, according to annual rainfall levels; about 500,000 ha of land are under rain-fed irrigation.

Terrace-cultivation: It is labour intensive and is carried out in the rainy mountainous zones like terraces, flat and basin system and represents an advanced farming system of water harvesting and soil and water conservation. Terrace cultivation is often associated with agro-forestry systems and multi-purpose tree planting. About 450,000 ha of mountain terraces are under cultivation. The economic competitiveness of priority crops has been analysed in a joint effort of the General Directorate of Planning and Monitoring of the MAI and the World Bank in April, May and June 199848. The main results are summarized below: Rain-fed coffee in the Highlands: It has a low domestic resource cost and Yemen has the potential to produce premium quality coffee. However, quality standards are low and specific production skills and expertise are lacking. These could well be targeted within the WM&SMD Programme; Rain-fed cereals:49 Their production is important for subsistence, as a large part of the produce is, consumed by the farmers and their kin. Straw is an important by-product used to feed livestock. Rain-fed cereal production is characterized however by its low yields and low input use, hence, overall production intensity remains very low; 3.3 Institutional set-up and capacity building measures relative to watershed management

and mountain development: 3.3.1 Institutional set-up: The national and local institutions involved with assessing, monitoring, combating environmental degradation in general and watershed management and mountain development in particular are:

47 Tomatoes, onions and potatoes. 48 Yemen: Agricultural Policy Review- Workshop paper No1: Basic facts – Economies of crop production in Yemen: by Mathias Schlund, Farouq M. Kassem, Stephen Mink. 49 Maize, sorghum, barley and wheat in the Highlands – Millet and wheat in the coastal areas.


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The Environmental Protection Authority50 (EPA): Its mandate is to develop and propose general policies to protect the environment, formulate national legislations and regulations, set-up national environmental standards, coordinate and monitor national, regional and international efforts in environmental protection and promote education and public awareness of environmental issues; The General Directorate of Forestry and Desertification Control (GDFDC): Public institution of the present Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MAI), the GDFDC and its 14 regional offices have the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the forests, woodlands, and range resources, of managing watershed as well as combating desertification; The National Water Resources Authority (NWRA): Established in the mid-nineties, its mandate is to “conserve the water resources, prescribing strategies, policies and plans to ensure proper management and sustainable development of these resources, within the context of socio-economic development”51; The Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (AREA): It is a national institution in charge of agricultural research and extension in Yemen; Non-governmental organizations such as the Yemeni Society for Environmental Protection (YSEP) and the Friends of Environment and other institutions like the Social Development Fund and Agricultural Bank, have set their respective objectives on the promotion of public awareness of environmental protection issues and responses; The Faculties of Agriculture: They have no specific mandate relative to environmental protection and desertification control. However, the Faculty of Agriculture (Sana’a University) has been active with the GDFDC in carrying out specific consultancies for the "Forestry Development in Yemen" project52. The Faculty, with initial assistance from the GCP/YEM/015/SWI project developed forestry curricula for the Faculty and other agricultural institutions. Local level set-up: At the local level there are: i) specific projects such as the Tihama Environmental Protection Project; ii) Regional Development Authorities; iii) local administration, coordinated under the Ministry of Local Administration, with districts and villages; iv) community and family-based organizations etc. Surface water resources’ management: The Directorate of Watershed Management: While NWRA is in charge of conserving and managing water resources, The GDFDC has the lead role with regard to watershed management. Thus far it is difficult to link surface water management and conservation to any specific institution, other than the GDFDC. The latter performs watershed management through its recently established Directorate of Watershed Management (DWM). Its main tasks and responsibilities as defined by the Forestry Development Project in 1995 are to53: 1. Carry out a comprehensive survey of eroded lands and lands threatened with erosion, particularly

in watersheds, in coordination with the concerned authorities; 2. “Propose general and special policies to combat water erosion with the participation of the

technical authorities”; 3. “Participate in laying out plans for the fixation of terraces, ……and the supervision of their

implementation”; 4. “Cooperate and coordinate with the Department of Nurseries and Forestation in selecting the

suitable plant species for the fixation of the terraces”; 5. “Participate in the preparation of plans and programs of training and educating cadres in the field

of watershed, in coordination and cooperation with the Training Section”

50This is the ex Environmental Protection (EPC), which was established in 1990. 51 Presidential Decree establishing NWRA. 52 GCP/YEM/015/SWI 53 Source: The National Policy of Watershed Management document.


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These tasks and responsibilities need to be better and more comprehensively redefined. The DWM, which is represented at central level only, has so far participated to a degree, in the implementation of a few watershed related activities, within some projects of the GDFDC. It does not have yet the calibre of an authentic national institution capable of formulating and implementing national watershed policies, legislation and sustainable mountain development programmes. Indeed, just as for most of GDFDC’s staff, the personnel of the DWM, is in dire need of training. In fact, it appears from the backgrounds of the DWM staff members given in Table 4, that no one possesses either a forestry or watershed management degree, and that most lack professional experience. Moreover, few of the staff have benefited from formal training. The short-term study tours conducted have not proven to be significantly beneficial. Table 4: Assessment of Directorate Watershed Management’s personnel

Name Diploma Specialty Year of

graduation Year of

recruitment Past

experience Present experience

Obad Al Ansi Md. Moukrid Khalid Md. Ibrahim Mahyoub Ahd. Al Haythami Walid Abd Al Olofi Hassan Kaid Bacha H. Ali Ramadane Abdessamad Chater Adel Abdelghani

BS Syria BS Egypt BS Sana’a BS Sana’a BS Sudan BS Ukraine BS Sana’a BS Egypt BS Syria BS Sana’a

Environment Gen. Agronomy Agro. Irrigation Gen. Agronomy Land survey Gen. Agronomy Nursery Crop production Gen. Agronomy Soil Water Cons.

96 90 97 92 92 95 93 92 96 94

96 90 97 98 92 95 93 98 96 94

- Seeds, nursery

- - - - - - - -

Chief of DWM Socio-economic studies Socio-economic studies Terraces’ maintenance Land survey

- Watershed management Extension

- -

Source: GCP/YEM/026/NET Project: Watershed Management” by Omar Aboulabbes, June 1999. In addition to the lack of training, the DWM since its establishment in 1995 has not benefited from any regular government funding43. Yet, this is considered to be the main artery in developing and sustaining any national institution with ambitious, difficult and urgent objectives to achieve. As a result, it has been hard to find a continuous financial resource in operating the activities of the DWM. Foreign funding constitutes a helping factor when preceded by substantial government support in scheduling a regular action programme of the national institution. Since its establishment, the DWM has totally depended on foreign funding allocated for the implementation of specific activities within projects. Its goals and orientations are, therefore de facto governed by those of the supporting programme. 3.3.2 Capacity building measures: Both the LWCP and the WWPU project have made substantial efforts towards resources development in the forestry sector in general and watershed management in particular. Indeed, via a wide variety of training programmes, people were instructed at all levels of the projects and the GDFDC, from on-site community training sessions to technical staff training abroad. However, it is clear that even though the MAI has taken a positive stand towards watershed management and sustainable mountain development, the present human capacity to deal with these issues remains limited. Continued training is indispensable to disseminate the participatory approach and to allow the GDFDC of the MAI, to act through its DWM as a national guiding, implementing and supervising authority in the field of watershed management and mountain development.


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3.4 WM&SMD activities – Type and magnitude: It is a fact that little has been achieved so far in terms of WM&SMD, and that only minor efforts were channelled now and then through autonomous projects into the uplands and mountain regions. Most of the government’s recent efforts were, instead concentrated on water resources’ development and management downstream. Therefore no long-term watershed management and sustainable mountain development programmes were initiated at national or regional levels. Some small-scale micro-watersheds’ rehabilitation and management interventions have been started within the country. In spite of their somewhat confined relative importance, these initiatives have remained minimal and fragmented. To be of any significance, they should, instead have been, part of a carefully planned nation-wide watershed management programme. Therefore, in order to achieve a successful, comprehensive rehabilitation, conservation and development programme, a general framework providing the backbone for such interventions needs to be established. 3.4.1 Prior studies and activities related to watershed management: The commencement of forestry development assistance to Yemen dates from the early 70s. Most studies and activities were then oriented towards afforestation (species’ introduction and planting techniques) and sand dune stabilization. The meagre forestry research activities initiated in the eighties by the Agricultural Research and Extension Authority concerned such themes as: i) introduction of forest tree species; ii) conservation of local species and varieties; sand dune stabilization; iii) agroforestry etc. Watershed management and soil conservation measures were first introduced in 1982 via the “Erosion Control and Afforestation”54 project (1982-87) in the Haraz region. Soil conservation measures and land reclamation were introduced by the UNDP/FAP/YEM/88/034 project in 1988 at Wadi Shares. 3.4.2 Recent and ongoing watershed activities: Watershed management activities were launched around the 90s. The Directorate of Watershed Management (DWM) was established at the GDFDC in 1995, under the Land and Water Conservation Project (UTF/YEM/023). The Programme for “Sustainable Water Resources Management” (YEM/97/200) consisting of six sub-programmes among, which the “Agricultural Water Use and Conservation” sub-programme with its three components,55 was of great support to the development of watershed management activities in Yemen. It is responsible among others, for the preparation of the National Watershed Management Policy and Action Plans, in collaboration with the GCP/YEM/026/NET project. The Sustainable Environmental Management Programme (YEM/97/100) is another major national programme with components related to watershed as well as land resources management. This is particularly true of sub-programmes 3 and 4 labelled respectively “Planning for Desertification Control” and “Community Participation in Land Resources Management”. Other outstanding initiatives related or useful to watershed management undertaken since, may be summarized as follows: i) consultancy carried out in 1998 on “Participatory Watershed Management – Integrated Water Resources Management”; ii) Preparation by Hunting Co. (UK) of a vegetation map at scale 1/1 million, covering the whole country; iii) Initiation in 1995 of the forestry component of the “Land and Water Conservation” project (UTF/YEM/023) funded by the WB and executed by FAO; iv) implementation of the Dutch funded and FAO executed GCP/YEM/021/NET project, which established a national land resource database suitable for physical planning of agricultural development; v) implementation (1995-1997) of the water resources component of the “Land and

54The project was implemented from 1982 to 1987. It was funded by the West Germany Cooperative Agency (GTZ). 55 Irrigation Policy and Planning, On-Farm Water Management, and Rural Land Use and Watershed Management and Conservation.


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Water Conservation” project (UTF/YEM/024); and vi) the FAO funded TCP/YEM/6711 “Environmental Information Systems for Natural Resources’ Conservation” project (1997-1999).

3.4.3 Watershed Management and Wastewater Re-Use in the Peri-Urban Areas of Yemen Project: The WWPU project (GCP/YEM/026/NET) financed by the Netherlands and executed (1997-2002) by FAO is at the origin and at the same time responsible for the formulation of the WM&SMD Programme. The project has developed and adapted an integrated participatory extension approach to land resources conservation and management, including a multimedia strategy to communication and mobilization. It made commendable efforts to reach a conflict-free consensus with populations in selecting beneficiary communities. Its efforts to reach women were successful and conformed the existing socio-cultural norms. In fact, considerable advances were made in bringing men and women alike to participate actively to the interventions they selected to satisfy their priorities. The project has indeed made a major contribution to the initiation, development and implementation of the grass-root participatory approach to promote sustainable, long-term and people driven watershed management and wastewater re-use in the peri-urban areas of Yemen. This was translated by the formulation and operating of a sound “Community Land Resources Management Master Plan” approach that could form the basis for a decentralized sustainable watershed management and sustainable mountain development programme. The WWPU project has invested much energy in consultancies and studies specific to watershed management, wastewater re-use, agroforestry and sand dune stabilization. It has moreover prepared technical packages corresponding to sand dune stabilization, water harvesting in dune areas and agroforestry. As such, it may be concluded that the project has, within a short period of time, touched upon essential features of sustainable development within the Yemeni rural context. To foster and institutionalise the coordination with its main partners, the WWPU project established national and regional steering committees, as well as a Central Advisory Committee. It also established coordination committees for special issues and tasks that ought to be sustained within the WM&SMD Programme’s framework. These are: i) the wastewater re-use technical committee; ii) the desertification control, afforestation and rangeland management strategy formulation committee; iii) the national watershed management policy and strategies’ formulation committee; iv) the documentation of indigenous knowledge, practices, rules and management systems on land resources management committee; v) the consultative group on participatory approaches in Yemen; and vi) the gender inter-agency. 3.4.4 Existing traditional watershed management practices: Terrace, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation practices, methods/systems for water harvesting; water resources’ storage and delivery and irrigation and drinking water distribution techniques have been developed and practiced for many centuries in Yemen. In respect to water management, several engineering structures and methods still exist and are used to the same effect as decades and centuries ago. Notwithstanding the positive impact of traditional water management methods and the valuable knowledge associated with their systems, it appears that these have been gradually abandoned for various reasons during the last decades. The principal cause to their abandonment is related to the socio-economic changes that have affected the country during the same period. According to M. Achouri56, it is now acknowledged that rain-fed farming systems practiced on hillsides, using traditional water harvesting techniques, is under real threat as a result of: i) a decline in incomes generated; ii) the non recognition of their importance to the national economy by the government; iii) the competition from agricultural areas benefiting from highly subsidised groundwater for irrigation. Indigenous knowledge and know-how developed for the sustainable use of water resources and passed on from generation to generation are in danger of being partially if not entirely lost. They have so far been neither well documented nor scientifically analysed to determine their intrinsic value and their

56 M. Achouri:L Promotion of traditional water management systems for integrated land resources management – FAO, Sana’a-Cairo, August 1998.


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effectiveness in supporting the sustainable water resources management. This should therefore constitute one of the objectives and main tasks of the WM&SMD Programme. Also, The positive experiences of the UTF/YEM/023 and WWPU projects and the traditional knowledge of the community can be usefully adopted and implemented in the programme. Proven traditional watershed management and land and water conservation techniques and approaches should be given preference whenever deemed necessary and justified, particularly with regard to those practices that make full use of natural vegetation’s resilience and capacity to regenerate under given conditions. 3.5 Watershed management policy and action plans: 3.5.1 National Watershed Management Policy (NWMP): It is only recently that the decision was taken to develop a specific watershed management policy, which attempts to approach natural resources’ conservation and development in a comprehensive way. With the assistance of the WWPU Project and the Watershed Management and Conservation Component of the Sustainable Water Resources Management Programme (YEM/97/200), a NWMP and relevant strategies and action plans were drafted, involving all concerned partners, including specialized agencies and communities, and thereafter approved by the Cabinet on May 24, 2000. Policy principles: The NWMP takes into consideration four major principles: P Reducing downstream waterworks’ siltation and agricultural lands’ erosion; P Improving farmers’ incomes, revenues and socio-economic conditions by upgrading and sustaining land productivity; P Encouraging people’s involvement and direct participation in watershed management planning and implementation. Policy statements: The NWMP consisted of 23 statements, of which, 7 on natural resources; 7 on socio-economic aspects; and 9 on institutional and legislation aspects. Although comprehensive, the NWMP needs to be further developed and elaborated into a Sustainable Mountain Development Policy and Strategy. The NWMP aims to achieve the following objectives: P Protection and development of the natural resources; P Integrated watershed management; P Institutional and legislation aspects enhancement. The watershed management policy statements and related strategies and action plans are annexed to this document (annex 11). 3.5.2 Watershed Management National Action Plans: They are regarded as a broad, global country vision for the long-term watershed management process. They miss or do not include the “mountain dimension” to the WM&SMD programme. These Action Plans constitute a skeleton or framework for action that may serve as guidelines for programme elaboration. Contrary to the National WM&SMD Programme, these National Action Plans do not identify projected regional/local interventions. Recognizing that the watershed management strategies and action plans involve multiple institutions, it is required that the implementation of the formulated action plans should be clearly identified in order to avoid policies conflict’s negative impact and to ensure coordinated commitment of concerned parties. It is also relevant that priorities for the action plans implementation should be identified taking into consideration the government Five-year Development Plan (2001-2005) orientations, the MAI basic objectives for the agricultural sector development and on-going assistance/activities with relation to watershed management/natural resources protection. 3.6 Observations & lessons learned in watershed management: Experience gained through implementing watershed projects and activities, as well as from previous studies has brought to light the following:


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Construction works: Dams, impounding reservoirs etc. may constitute a valuable option in watershed management. They require however thorough studies to justify the usually high construction costs and short life span due to rapid siltation. The consequences of such constructions for traditional water rights, which perform on a relatively equitable basis, must be correctly analysed, making sure that they do not alter them irreversibly; Development concepts: A review of the overall wadi development concepts, together with an in-depth study of the technical, agricultural, and socio-economic consequences of the various improvement alternatives should be made; Watershed management benefits: The benefits of watershed management are long-term and the impact of such project activities is difficult to quantify; Beneficiaries’ participation: More attention should be bestowed on beneficiaries’ participation at the preparation and implementation stages of projects/programmes. Beneficiaries should be fully aware of the immediate and long-term objectives as well as the social and economic impacts expected; Participation by direct beneficiaries: Lessons learned from previous watershed management activities carried out with the participation in the form of labour of the direct beneficiaries concluded that: P The beneficiaries show more interest for activities such as wadi bank protection, check dams that bring immediate tangible benefits by preventing their lands from flooding and degradation; P The beneficiaries showed lack of awareness for tree planting and protection of planted areas; P Participation does induce more sympathy towards participatory projects and helps insure that a more effective maintenance of achievements will be carried out after its completion; Assessment of existing situation: During the project/programme preparation phase, careful understanding of the existing situation (e.g. traditions & traditional methods, approaches and techniques) must be attained, on the basis of exchange and analysis of realistic and dependable data; Threats to Watershed Environments: One of the topmost threats to the watershed environment comes from road construction, particularly along the catchment’s rim, where once small access tracks had been winded. The GDFDC needs to cooperate with the Ministry of Transport and Marine Affairs, to set up norms for good mountain road design; Multidisciplinary approach: The approach tends to be limited to the preparatory phase. In terms of implementation neither the implementing units nor the GDFDC possess the multidisciplinary capacity for sustainable watershed management; Institutional capacity: The institutional and technical capacity is not sufficient for planning watershed management programmes. IV. JUSTIFICATION Mountains and highlands are all at once a major and fragile ecosystem of the ROY. They encompass within their rough three-dimensional scenery, the most unique array of dissected watershed physical landscapes, climate, flora and fauna, as well as human social, cultural and economic differentiation. They are globally very important as water towers, as repositories of rich biological diversity and as potential targets for recreation. They provide moreover a wide variety of commodities (minerals, wood and non-wood forest products, fodder, agricultural goods) and services. Occupying __% of the country’s land surface area, Yemeni mountains and watersheds provide a direct life-support base for about 11,600,000 souls representing 70% of the national population.


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High-energy environments, the highlands and their watersheds are the potential siege of the downhill flow of water along steep slopes, which promotes gravitational movement not only of water, but also of soils and rocks it carries. Mountain people by and large, understand the challenges of planning the conservation and the diverse uses of mountain ecosystems. Yet, the risks associated with mountain environments have nonetheless grown steadily and very rapidly, with recent sharp increases in resident and visiting populations, intensification and diversification of land uses, the construction of modern infrastructures etc. Because such basic and serious issues as inappropriate land and water use, lack of institutional coordination, capacity building, extension services, technical assistance, education, health, services, transport facilities etc. affecting mountains and their watersheds have not received the attention they deserve, natural resources have been seriously mismanaged to the point where vegetation cover has shrunk considerably, water resources have been quasi depleted and watershed functions degraded. Mountain ecosystems’ fragility is indeed such, that the impacts of resources’ mismanagement are swift and heavy in terms of the lasting consequences thereof. Damages inflicted to land resources may be irreversible, or at best, reversible over a very long period of time. Land use in upland areas of Yemen is often founded on the practice of bunding and terracing, which impedes immediate runoff and erosion and ensures the recharge of soil moisture and of groundwater. It also accounts for the substantial importance of upland rain-fed agriculture, which is performed over 450,000 ha of mountain terraces and 650,000 ha of relatively flat land in the inter-mountain regions. A very significant share of the national agricultural production stems from the 489,000 ha, of irrigated agriculture in the lower wadi catchments and the coastal plains, which depends on water produced and/or intercepted in the upper watershed basins. The increased vulnerability of upland areas to erosion, following abandonment of terraces and of sound land use practices, is causing serious harm to the downstream agricultural areas due to more frequent and severe flash flooding that results in widening of wadi beds, siltation and destruction of valuable, intensively cultivated riverbanks. It also decreases groundwater availability for the satisfaction of irrigation, industrial and domestic needs. It is acknowledged that reversing the present degradation trends and sustaining the use and management of the land resources can only be achieved by adopting a system of improved land, water and vegetation use based on an integrated approach for land resources development. Given that sustained mountain and watershed management is the implementation of management systems, which ensure the preservation, conservation and sustainable exploitation of land resources, the formulation of national strategies, policies and approaches for watershed management and sustainable mountain development would constitute a milestone for the rehabilitation and sustained use of land resources. It would complement and reinforce both the national water resources and national irrigation strategies and action plans. It will also be in agreement with the Aden Agenda for, which the main functions in the future MAI will be focussed on the conservation, protection and development of natural resources through watershed management, groundwater conservation, forestry and rangeland development etc. It would finally be consistent with the National Action Plan for Desertification Control (NAPDC) and the two Programme Areas defined in Chapter 13, Agenda 2157, i.e.: P Generating and strengthening knowledge about the ecology and sustainable development of mountain ecosystems; P Promoting integrated watershed management and alternative livelihood opportunities. It is also widely recognized in Yemen and elsewhere, that “the enormous obstacles facing sustainable mountain development in the 21st century will not be overcome, unless the problems are recognized and addressed by local communities, national policy and international cooperation”58 The mountains and highlands of the ROY must therefore become a focus for the Yemeni Society and Government alike. Their efforts must, with the assistance of international cooperation, stress the reality of the mountain “watershed ecosystems”, acknowledge their fragility and vital importance to the country as a whole, and highlight the necessity to address issues relating to their protection, conservation and

57 To which Yemen has adhered. 58 Mountains of the World. Challenges for the 21st century: A contribution to Chapter 13, Agenda 21 Mountain Agenda – CSD & UN Special Session of the UN General Assembly, 1997 “Five Years After Rio”.


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sustainable development. They must likewise underline the need to perceive watersheds as integrated planning units to be managed and developed for the benefit of their upstream as well as downstream communities, within a long-term National Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development Programme. Finally, it is recognized that to achieve natural resources’ protection and sustainable land resources management, appropriate technical, institutional, organizational and legislative decisions at local, regional and central levels are needed. Therefore, addressing resources’ degradation will depend on the government’s capacity to establish, implement and enforce adequate policy and related plans and programmes and to support local, regional and national capacity building. The formulation of a WM&SMD Programme must be based on the visualization of the present state of over-exploitation of the natural, mountain and highland resources. It must also recognize that watershed management and mountain and highland development call for interdisciplinary and participatory approaches. To this avail, the initial participatory and integrated watershed management appraisal exercises ought to capitalize on the experience of the diverse past and ongoing projects, particularly the WWPU project. They should also be sufficiently open-ended, to allow people to review all the meaningful aspects of their situation, yet at the same time sufficiently focused on environmental issues, to promote awareness of the links between practices in natural resource management and socio-economic conditions. Even though watershed management is increasingly recognized as a pre-requisite for sustainable management of land resources and improvement of the living conditions of mountain people, the “sustainable mountain development” dimension remains absent from the present national policies and strategies. To see to it that the concept of integrated watershed management does constitute a process, in which community problems and needs are considered as important components of any watershed development scheme, the WM&SMD Programme will assist the country in developing and refining policies and strategies related to conservation, sustainable development and management of mountain watersheds. It will also promote innovative and pertinent approaches that achieve not only the challenge of sustaining watershed management, but at the same time encourage the durable development of mountain regions. Sustaining the latter would, ultimately reduce poverty and provide continued and lasting benefits that meet present and future demands/needs of ever more growing populations. In view of the fact that mountains have the potential to become authentic development pivots; mountain communities are entitled to a mountain agenda that guaranties their economic prosperity and sustained development. Without such a nationally implemented and internationally supported long-term sustained mountain plan, all efforts aiming at poverty alleviation, communities’ empowerment, civil society development, water and land resources’ conservation and management, sustainable development etc. in the Yemeni Highlands and elsewhere, will face serious difficulties. Likewise, all efforts projected to optimise and sustain agricultural production, urban and industrial development through improved water use and conservation in downstream areas will as well be inadequate. In fact, all need to be rooted in a clear vision of a participatory WM&SMD Programme.


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PART TWO

Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development Programme

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V. WM&SMD ISSUES & PROBLEMS TO BE ADDRESED Mountain communities are among, the poorest in the world because of their specific upland-related habitat, which includes among others, the following conditions: fragile ecosystems and limited land resources, marginal agricultural lands, remoteness, scant infrastructure etc. Food security is a real challenge, as it constitutes a major constraint in some areas of Yemeni highlands. Scrutinized preliminary facts and information gathered during the field formulation process indicate that the main problematic areas to be targeted in WM&SMD, may be summarized as follows: 5.1 Watershed problems: Mountains and watersheds constitute hydrological entities or ecosystems that support human life and are responsible for regulating precipitation movement, rainwater interception, storage and stream-flow. Being generally poorly managed, their hydrological functions are disrupted, resulting in greater erosion and more intense and recurrent flood flow occurrences. These set off downstream devastations and upstream loss of agricultural production. High densities of largely land-use dependent populations within the upland regions of the country and rapid growth of human and animal populations, combined with increasing and diversified demands on land resources lead to their mal-use, over-exploitation and as a result, to environmental degradation. 5.1.1 Common watershed problems: The watersheds59 of Yemen are affected by a series of acute problems that severely reduce the catchments’ water regulation capacity. Among the main concerns, the following seem to be common to most Yemeni watersheds: P Highly degraded and low productive upland areas due to aggressive precipitation, strong erosion, poor vegetation cover, and destruction of abandoned and/or ill-maintained agricultural terraces; P Flash-flooding and widening of downstream wadi beds that lead to deterioration and destruction of precious productive terraced agricultural land along stream banks; P Steady reduction of forest, woodland and rangeland cover both upstream and downstream, following abusive exploitation, particularly with regard to the use of biomass for fuel use; P Lack of awareness as well as of knowledge and know-how regarding watershed, rangeland and woodland management; P Existence of various dominant, forms of erosion common to all watersheds:

R Upper catchment - Gully erosion and rill formation; - Sheet erosion on slopes with sparse vegetation cover R Lower catchment - Flooding and damage to most valuable cash crops; - Loss and/or damage to field protection bunds and bank protection works; - Loss of precious, fertile agricultural land; - Wadi-bank erosion and wadi-bed widening.

5.1.2 Specific watershed problems: Some of the specific problems faced in watershed areas are described below: P Large human and animal populations and rapid population growth; P Low standards of living, poverty and food insecurity; P Absence of integrated watershed management and development programmes, and low resource productivity (water, crop yield, range etc); P Lack of comprehensive relevant policies; P High human and animal population pressure P Weak social services and infrastructure,

59 Source: A. Maged Al-Hemiary – Yemeni experience in watershed management: Sana’a 10-11/11/1999.

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P Centralized approach to planning and development and local communities neglect; P Lack of solid management and institutional capacities; P Weak human capacities alongside social and gender gaps and marginality; P Limited information and knowledge, and under-exploitation of eco-tourism potential.

Terraces’ abandonment and degradation of watershed functions

Following massive abandonment of terraces, steep long slopes and inadequate natural vegetation cover characterize large parts of the highland watershed topography. These results in the degradation of the watershed functions as topography, geology, soil, vegetation and land use, affect negatively the contribution of precipitation to usable water resources and flow patterns to surface and sub-surface watercourse and storage. Downstream water quantities and discharge regimes are also directly affected by the new upper watershed conditions and land management practices. Lloss of productive land, accrued sedimentation loads and reduced reservoir capacities are as well direct implications of water erosion induced by terrace abandonment on downstream development schemes.

5.2 Checking the steady degradation of the scarce land and environmental resources: “Carrying capacity” is an ecological concept that refers to the maximum human and animal population that can be maintained and sustained, given the energy, food, water and other necessary nutrients available or capable of being generated within limits of productive potentials of the country. The present human and animal population levels reached in most parts of the ROY have, by far exceeded the carrying capacity of the land. As a result, more land is cultivated to meet the basic needs. Reclamation is generally done at the expense of rangelands and woodlands on very steep slopes of the upper highlands or on shallow and sandy soils in dry areas. The unsustainable operation of putting marginal land under production is soon demonstrated; it leads invariably to land abandonment after production costs prove to be uneconomical. Yet, the need to maintain mountain populations in place is vital, as migration only leads to further impoverishment in urban areas and results in labour shortages at critical periods of the agricultural, forestry and livestock-rearing calendars. The challenge consists therefore in devising rural development approaches that reduce the pressure on land resources and help rehabilitate them, develop essential services locally and create new development, job and economic opportunities and maintain the populations within their territory. 5.2.1 Degradation of the scarce land and environmental resources: Due to the lack of sustainable land resources’ administration and supervision systems, Yemen faces the threats of land resources degradation including desertification, sand dune movement, soil erosion, salinity and loss of fertility, terraces disruptiion etc. Water resources depletion, vegetation cover deterioration and reduced biodiversity are other aspects of the same process. Mountains, which constitute over 60% of the country’s land area and are home to more than 70% of Yemeni population, are facing serious degradation problems. Watershed ecosystems are changing rapidly through stepped up soil erosion, landslides, deterioration of range resources, and loss of biological diversity. Their functions with regard to supporting water resources’ development, regulating runoff, preserving down-stream resources and infrastructures and supporting the livelihood of their inhabitants are becoming increasingly limited. 5.2.2 Soil Degradation and Erosion: Mountain conditions have direct repercussions on the functioning of land resources in general and on the situation of water resources in particular. Upland

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areas in Yemen are increasingly vulnerable to erosion due to changing social patterns, inappropriate agricultural practices and removal of natural vegetation. Following the widespread misuse of its resources through the last decades, Yemen is faced with declining land productivity and serious environmental and water resources issues. Degradation processes, especially in upland watershed systems, constrain development and seriously threaten the population’s food security. Table 5, gives the situation with respect to the different types of erosion in the ex Yemen Arab Republic: Table 5: Types and areas of Soil Erosion

Water erosion Wind erosion Cementation

Desertification

Light to moderate

Severe to very severe

Light to moderate

Severe to very severe

Calcareous gypsum

In % of the total area of YAR

654,000 ha 11,427,000 ha

2,731,000 ha 902,000 ha

Total : 12,072,000 ha

Total : 3,633,000 ha

3,380,000

97.9%

Source: National Plan to Combat Desertification, 1989 5.3 Sustaining water production, quality and use: Ground Water Deficit: Mean annual rainfall amounts to 93 billion m3 of water. While significant in terms of absolute water volume equivalent, most of the precipitation is considered ineffective. For this reason, the country depends highly on groundwater extraction to fulfil its overall water needs, which affects seriously the groundwater balance. Pumping water for crop irrigation together with excessive water extraction for qat production contribute much to groundwater depletion. It is estimated that 90% of the total surface and groundwater resources of Yemen are used in agriculture. Considering the lack of sustainable water productivity and of efficient water use measures, there is significant water waste, which contributes to the chronic water deficit estimated at 600 million m3 in 1995 and projected to reach 920 million m3 in 2005. Groundwater Contamination: Water pollution in watersheds has been steadily increasing in recent years for multiple reasons. It is due, among others to: P Unregulated fertilizers and chemical pesticides; P Household waste and garbage; P Polluted water transported from urban and industrial centres; P Pollution resulting from wastewater. This often creates health problems as groundwater in many areas is unfit for drinking and/or cooking. This highlights the fact that wastewater treatment and reuse should form an integral and important component of watershed management.

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5.4 Combating poverty, food insecurity: Poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon as some 81% of all the poor and 83% of the absolute poor live from insignificant farm incomes and revenues in rural localities. The landless, together with small farmers and sharecroppers dependent on spate and/or or rain-fed agriculture, farmers without access to qat cultivation, nomadic pastoralists and craft fishermen as well as remote and isolated communities constitute the main bulk of the rural poor. These are concentrated chiefly within such governorates as Sana’a, Taiz, Hodeidah, Dhamar and Hadramout. Despite being among the best resource-endowed of the country, these governorates are host to a large fraction of the population and suffer from a highly skewed distribution of land and water resources. Since poverty and threats to the environment are linked, it follows that strategies, which do not address both issues concurrently, are likely to fail. It is obvious all over Yemen, that when the poor find no other alternative, they use land and water resources in ways, which radically impair their conservation and future productivity and further induce irreversible degradation. Participatory approaches to rural development and environmental protection are the surest way to success. They require nonetheless that beneficiaries contribute to costs and investments, besides providing labour. This tends to exclude the poor, whose investment capacity is either weak or non-existent. It is therefore necessary to conceive approaches based on social organization schemes capable of reviving traditional solidarity responses to hardship and indigence that would help the poor actively contribute to protecting the resource and enhancing production systems. 5.4.1 Reducing food insecurity: As per UNDP’s Program Approach, the imbalance between the community’s constantly increasing needs and the continuously decreasing potentials of natural resources, has accentuated the latter’s deterioration, and led to poverty’s proliferation and food insecurity’s aggravation. Food insecurity results as well from: i) low yields in subsistence agriculture, due to deteriorating traditional rain-fed cultivation and livestock production systems; ii) degradation of valuable terraced agricultural land, and of traditional water-harvesting systems; iii) poor productivity and sustainability of irrigated agriculture; iv) limited cash-crop agriculture potential and steady extension of qat cultivation; v) significant and valuable post-harvest losses; vi) ever-increasing prices for agricultural inputs - seed, fertilizers, pesticides, water, labour etc. vii) low milk and meat production as a result of poor animal nutrition, husbandry and health care etc. Reminding that rural populations have expanded and will continue to do so, well beyond the absorptive capacity of the agricultural economy60, it is clear that investments and improvements in agricultural production will not be sufficient to fully offset population growth and poverty expansion, particularly in the rural world. Of course, the persistent increase of pressure exerted on lands that display ever more declining production potentials must be effectively compensated for, through renewed technological options and production efficiency in the agricultural economy. All the same, it is an indisputable fact that complementary choices must as well be secured to the rural poor in order to reduce food insecurity, and ultimately achieve food security. 5.4.2 Poverty alleviation: According to the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (IPRS) “There is a general consensus that tackling the challenge of poverty in Yemen is particularly urgent, as the imbalance between demographic trend, the declining natural resource base and the undeveloped economic potential of the country have created a process, which generates poverty, and deprivation instead of jobs and livelihood. Thus, the broad concept of poverty (human poverty) demands an all encompassing policy framework and strategy content, which would enable the government to secure sound social safety network, empower the poor, increase opportunities that provide better access to human and physical assets, and generate employment.”

60 Agricultural economy taken in its broadest sense, to include agricultural production, livestock breeding, forestry production, fisheries etc.

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Strategically, it is believed that poverty alleviation can be resolved in due course by means of sustained economic growth on one the hand, and social development, on the other. The focus areas of interventions are in the core definition of Sustainable Human Development (SHD) and in conformity with the national priorities that will be outlined in the Second Five Year Plan (SFYP). The National Policy Framework For Poverty (PRFP) will also aim at creating a poverty-alleviation enabling environment by assisting the government formulate appropriate policies and render them operational, as well as by initiating concrete pro-poor activities. Poverty alleviation is one of Yemen’s most fundamental issues of the 21st century. The contribution of WM&SMD Programme, in response to this challenge, ought to achieve substantial progress in combating poverty, particularly in the poorest areas of the rural world that are the mountain and highland areas. This calls for improved production and management systems and requires offsetting the present: i) lack of community and private investments capacity and limited off-farm employment opportunities; ii) Shortage of market information and limited access to marketing and trade; iii) credit limitation and insufficient pooling funds to help the needy etc. 5.5 Gender equity: “Gender equity with a special focus on rural areas” has been selected as one the United Nations’ Development Assistance Framework’s (UNDAF) development theme, in accordance with the national policy frameworks and priorities. The analysis carried out as part of the Common Country Assessment (CCA) clearly stressed the underlying importance of gender equity. Together with UNDAF the WN&SMD Programme offers a unique opportunity to mainstream gender needs and priorities with a special focus on rural areas. At stake is the long-term goal of gender equity, where women become agents for social change and equal partners to men in the development process Gender equity for rural women: Because the gender disparities are greater in rural areas, particularly in the marginal communities of the highlands, it is essential for the Programme to focus on rural women and ensure that through collaboration with the elected local councils, NGOs, local authorities and other institutions, they are able to benefit from existing community-based programmes, in addition to those of the WM&SMD Programme. Key entry points to gender equity for rural women would be:

Improving women’s access to health care: This would reduce maternal and infant mortality. By promoting the access of rural women to quality reproductive health information and services, it would as well as contribute to slower population growth;

Promoting higher access to education, particularly for girls: This would provide women access to basic functional literacy and life skills education through alternative education channels, and would increase access to quality basic education for girls. Improved access to education would have a positive impact not only on literacy, but also on labour productivity among women. It would moreover strengthen women’s community management role;

Promoting off-farm economic activities: Facilitating equal access of women to resources, employment, markets and trade to empower women and improve their social status as well within their households as in their community. Promoting off-farm activities for women to help them accomplish relative economic independence, opening new gates of opportunity for better heath, education, social status etc. Besides the classical home gardens and livestock breeding mini-projects for women, numerous other possibilities exist, such as handicrafts, processing and commercialising of non-timber forest products, small enterprises etc.

Increasing women’s awareness and knowledge of their rights: would ultimately provide women with equal access and full participation in power structures and decision-making. 5.6 Other related issues and problems to be addressed:

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Rural infrastructure problems: ! Deteriorated roads, trails and serious problems of accessibility off the paved roads; ! Scarcity of vehicles for transport of persons, animals and goods; ! Inadequate and meagre means of communications; ! Lack of services such as health, education, social services, etc. Research and extension issues: ! Despite the fact that the majority of mountain farmers depend on small-scale subsistence agriculture, their needs in terms of improving production efficiency and quality are poorly served by prevailing research approaches, methods and programmes; ! Lack of base information and of technical packages for enhanced crop production and natural resources sustainable management; ! Inadequate extension services; ! Inadequacy of research approach, intensity and quality; Capacity Building and Community’s Empowerment issues: Capacity issues: ! Lack of effectiveness in rural development and natural resources’ management due to inadequate institutional arrangements; ! Gender issues; ! Lack of skilled specialists, particularly at decentralized level; ! Lack of performance indicators measuring qualitative and quantitative performance; Cooperation issues: ! Deficiency in cross-sectoral cooperation and in inter-institutional collaboration; ! Absence of cooperation between public and private sectors; Financial/funding issues: ! Lack of an operating fund to implement community development programmes, micro-projects and activities; ! Absence of community-based financial systems. Institutional issues: ! Inadequate institutional and procedural framework to promote farmers’ associations and community institutions; VI. PROGRAMME’S AIMS & IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES 6.1 WM&SMD’s development objective: In line with the government priorities to mitigate income disparities, reduce poverty, and conserve the natural resources’ base of the country, the programme aims at assisting the Yemeni people and their government in their efforts to safeguard watershed resources and develop mountain regions. Its long-term objective is to promote a sound and sustainable economic and environmental development of Yemen’s mountain ecosystems and improve durably the living standards of mountain people, by achieving a grassroots, decentralized, integrated and gender sensitive sustainable development of the country’s watersheds, and ensuring the expansion of employment opportunities and the broad-based development of human resources and skill formation, together with the wide and equitable distribution of benefits born from development. 6.2 WM&SMD Immediate objectives:

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Immediate objective 1. Strengthen and enhance the capacity of governmental and non-governmental local institutions in the area of watershed management and sustainable mountain development to enable them to plan, manage and promote integrated, decentralized development sub-programmes. Special focus will be on the institutional, organizational and strategic aspects of development. Immediate objective 2. Prepare long-term community participation at provincial61, district and local levels, for area based development programmes (ABDP) that make up a national framework and are consistent and in line with national policies, strategies and action plans. Immediate objective 3. Build an efficient multi-stakeholder mechanism to act as a platform for negotiation, dialogue, conflict resolution and decentralized consultation within district and provincial structures. Such a platform should include representatives of line directorates within and among different sectors and facilitate the integration of regional action plans and local responses to national strategies. It should also warrant the autonomy, transparency, accountability and effectiveness of execution of the WM&SMD sub-programmes and serve as forum for negotiation and conflict resolution. Immediate objective 4. Improve the efficiency and sustainability of the watershed and mountain resource use, to reduce the vulnerability of the poor by means of: ! Developing human capital through education, training, extension and information flows; ! Developing improved and efficient land resources’ management systems (including water management and conservation of biological diversity) based on vertical information flow and on people’s full involvement in the formulation, appraisal, implementation and monitoring of sub-programmes and projects; ! Adopting strategies to increase employment, revenue and income opportunities for the poor in general and marginal groups in particular; ! Improving food security by means of promoting and sustaining the production of subsistence crops and foodstuffs of prevalent consumption, and prescribing preventive measures to avoid post-harvest losses and produce contamination with agrochemicals and/or pests; ! Promoting the increase in production of tubers, traditional legumes, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits, that are commonly consumed locally that may lead to improved human diets and also to more sustainable production systems; ! Strengthening market related institutions and private sector efforts, which are concerned with production, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities, as well as with the management of agricultural resources. Immediate objective 5: Enhancing the policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation capacity by: ! Developing appropriate monitoring and evaluation devices and procedures to identify at all levels, stressors that may pose problems in terms of management and constitute thereby factors impeding progress; ! Designing subsequently and on a timely basis the required suitable corrective responses; ! Developing statistical records relevant to land resources’ management and to land use planning, including databases on land resources, on actual land uses and functions and on socio-economic conditions (see partial details in annex 2); ! Establishing systems for monitoring/reporting on gender issues and progress, by assigning gender focal points in every community concerned by the development sub-programmes; ! Setting up, with the assistance of key indicators, a device for monitoring actual liability changes induced by decentralization62, and evaluating the capacity of sub-national government bodies to assume such responsibilities and ensure that effective ways of vertical and horizontal information exchange and communication are devised and put into practice.

61 Governorate level. 62 Delegation of responsibilities and of resources and funds to provincial, district and local bodies.

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Immediate objective 6. Enhancing research development by way of: ! Identifying investigation priorities that are relevant and responsive to the circumstances and the needs of rural producers and land users; ! Analysing and identifying socially acceptable and technically sound solutions; ! Setting up participatory research protocols that are conducive to relevant information gathering, management and dissemination, especially with regard to techniques, which combine conservation and enhanced productivity objectives. Such research protocols should ensure that farmers’ knowledge and know-how ultimately meet formal science; Immediate objective 7. Mobilizing human, material and financial resources to meet the actual needs of the WM&SMD Programme. VII. PROGRAMME APPROACH AND STRATEGY 7.1 Approach adopted during the preparatory phase of the WM&SMD Programme: Poverty, land resources and environment degradation…issues in upland Yemen require the formulation of a National WM&SMD Programme to be properly and comprehensively addressed. As previously stated, WWPU63 has paved the way to participatory local development, concurrently elaborating tools for expansion, by training staff and communities alike, and developing technical packages. Ensuing the WWPU, the present WM&SMD Programme has been conceived as a national multidisciplinary effort to be subsequently endorsed and implemented following a participatory effort intended at instigating a bottom-up approach to development. It is furthermore meant to enhance the national capacity for participatory programme formulation and in time, for programme execution. The preparatory phase approach to this WM&SMD Programme formulation aimed at developing and field-testing a personalized training/formulation process. It was successful and, should consequently serve as a reference in formulating future national development programmes by Yemeni staff. On the basis of the draft implementation planning matrix (A21A) of the Aden Agenda and of the recently formulated National Watershed Management Policy and Action Plans, the WM&SMD Programme’s training/formulation approach, has evolved through the following stages and actions. 7.1.1 Desk preparatory phase: Prior to the participatory field studies and district and usla selection operations a number of desk investigations/activities have been carried out, which include: Mountain and watershed problems acknowledgement: To better plan the subsequent steps of the formulation exercise, mountains and watersheds’ conditions and major issues have been identified and acknowledged in terms of their physiographic characteristics and their related degradation concerns, as well as in terms of their socio-economic and developmental issues. Constitution of various teams to be engaged in the training/formulation process: The WM&DMD Programme’s training/formulation process has engaged the following teams:

National Coordination Team (NCT): Composed of 4 members, it was responsible for the direct organization, coordination and supervision of the overall programme development;

Central Technical Support and Guidance Team (CTSGT): Composed of international experts the CTSGT has designed the formulation training process, prepared the required materials and documents and assisted, guided and supervised the national staff64 throughout the progression of the programme formulation, putting into practice the “learning by doing” training approach;

63 Which is due to be terminated shortly. 64 National staff composing the Central Team, Technical Regional Team and the Mixed Regional Formulation Team.

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Central Team (CT): This multidisciplinary team was composed of 12 nationals who benefited from tailored training and subsequently lead, guided and trained the regional mixed teams in the process of data gathering and analysis as well in formulating Usla Brief Development Plans (UBDP);

Regional Technical Teams (RTT): Multidisciplinary and four-men strong, RTTs were designated by the MAI Offices, at the request of the Coordination Team. They were trained at the WWPU headquarters and subsequently supported communities in the critical zone selection process and in the formulation of UBDPs;

Mixed Regional Formulation Team (MRFT): Composed of RTT members and selected Usla representatives, the MRFTs actually conducted the local Rapid Participatory Diagnosis (RPD65) surveys and drafted Brief Local Development Plans for the uslas selected;

Regional Coordination Committees (RCC): RCCs were expressly established to ensure that the needs and priorities of the communities are taken into account during the selection and formulation stages. They were also in charge of facilitating the execution of the selection and formulation activities both at district and usla levels, resolving any constraints faced by the regional mixed teams. Selection of the first Governorates to be covered by the programme: The WM&SMD Programme is a wide-scale enterprise that in due course, ought to cover the entire national territory of the ROY. Considering the immensity of the task ahead and the actual absorptive capacity of the nation, it has been decided to follow a process-oriented approach to the Programme, rather than a blueprint one. This makes it possible to target a reasonable number of governorates, districts and uslas at the initial stage. The further experience, capacity and lessons learnt advance, the larger will be the scope of the Programme, and additional governorates, districts and uslas will be incorporated. At this stage, it has been decided to select some potential governorates to be part of the present National WM&SMD Programme, according to the following selection criteria: P Encompassing the present WWPU areas, where participatory territorial master plans have been developed and are being implemented. This is justified by the continued assistance that needs to be provided to the communities. It is further validated by the substantial and readily replicable knowledge and experience gained in these areas; P Embodying critical ecological mountain regions and comprising major representative watershed; P Involving large and poor rural populations that face poverty and food insecurity; P Embracing marginalized population segments and communities; P Participating to the regional balance in terms of national development; P Offering the opportunity to initiate an integrated and coordinated approach to the management of major national watersheds, whose territory lies within several governorates. In agreement with national policies, strategies and plans of action and based upon the criteria retained, the NCT ha selected governorates66 (1) Sana’a; 2) Dhamar; 3) Shabwah; 4) Taiz; 5) Aden; 6) Mahweet; 7) Hodeidah; 8) Lahej) to be part of the present WM&SMD programme: Decision over the level of planning: Given that WWPU has so far been successful in planning at village level, and at the juncture between project approach and sector-wide programme approach, it has become necessary and possible to aim at higher levels of participatory intervention planning. Taking into consideration the decentralization trend and considering the actual capacity of the GDFDC staff, the planning units were prescribed to coincide with Usla entities.

65 RPD is an adaptation of the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. It has been devised to take into consideration the need to gather a minimum of useful data and information, in a limited amount of time. 66 As the proposed initiative is to take a process oriented approach rather than a blueprint approach, there will be an inherent flexibility built into the process that will enable the inclusion of additional Uslas and Governorates later on during the implementation process. A few Uslas will be chosen at the beginning with an aim to gather experience during the process of learning by doing. As experiences are accumulated and lessons learnt, further Uslas will be selected keeping in view the past experiences.

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Central training programme implementation: A three-day strong intensive central training programme was dispensed to the 37 seven persons constituting the various teams (central and regional) involved in the training/formulation process entailed 5 modules as follows:

Module 1: This theoretical and conceptual module covered: 1) refreshing notes on participatory, integrated watershed management and sustainable mountain development, gender analysis for land resources management and development as well as decentralization and community participation in land resources management within the Yemeni context; 2) planning for sustainable use of land resources; 3) overview of the Programme Approach; 4) programme formulation cycle (assessment, identification, priority establishment, objectives formulation, budgeting etc.

Module 2: This applied and functional module described the approach to WM&SMD programme formulation, including: methodology, steps, tools, schedule and definition of tasks and responsibilities;

Module 3: concerned the desk and field processes related to the preliminary and final selection of critical zones to be covered within each of the retained governorates;

Module 4: was organized as fieldwork and covered data and information generation and gathering. It included socio-economic gender responsive analysis as well as land resources and institutional assessment aspects;

Module 5: The training sessions of the final module took place in the governorates of Taiz, Lahej and Aden and were devoted to data and information analysis and to the preparation and presentation of Usla Brief Development Plans

Desk-formulation and testing of the selection process for the designation of the critical zones at District and Usla level: The objective of this exercise was to provide the national staff with basic information and knowledge about the: 1) Selection process, its importance, purpose, principles and utility; 2) Key elements related to land resources conservation and management as well as to mountain development; 3) Criteria and indicators’ definition methodology. At first, the central team and the CTSGT carried out a thorough bibliographic research, collecting all available data and information related to the test governorates of Lahej and Taiz at first, and to the other governorates throughout the formulation process. For each governorate the documentation sought after and found was basically constituted of: 1) social and economic statistical data; 2) various maps to be used in the selection process (topographic, land use, rainfall, administrative, poverty and geologic maps); report on the national vegetation cover surveys and vegetation cover maps and; other significant documents found at governorate level (research, project consultancy reports and studies, policy, strategy and legislation documents, climatic data etc. Following a brainstorming session, 8 criteria and 28 indicators were defined and used in a preliminary selection exercise to determine the promising districts67 and potential/candidate uslas to be covered by the WM&SMD Programme in the governorate of Taiz. The criteria and indicators were systematically put forward to local debate and approval in each governorate. They were furthermore regularly amended and enriched, to match the local context.

7.1.2 Participatory field studies:

District selection process – Final selection of Uslas:

Raising awareness: There was a dire need to explain the watershed management and sustainable mountain development concepts to all stakeholders, among others, to the concerned local, 67 Applying the various criteria and indicators, may result in the pre-selection of several districts, of which two will be retained for each governorate.

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regional, and central institutions, local councils, rural communities, natural resources users etc. It was also indispensable to generate awareness on the need for sustainable mountain development and watershed management among planners, civil society, donors and decision makers, taking into consideration the specificities of the fragile mountain areas’ ecosystems;

District and Usla selection: The first applied participatory field studies’ exercise was carried out

in presence of the whole central team in Taiz. Later, when the training received, and the experience gained, were considered adequate, the group was split into 3 teams working in concert in 3 diverse governorates (Taiz, Lahej and Aden) with their regional counterparts. The CTSG team provided training to both the central and the regional staff on the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) methodology and assisted the three participatory field study teams in their respective districts and uslas selection exercises, either directly, or at distance. In the course of the participatory field studies process, regular exchanges took place between the 3 teams, and a series of meetings were held with local authorities and local council representatives at governorate, district and usla level. Conducting Rapid Participatory Diagnosis (RPD) exercises at Usla level: The RPD is a qualitative and quantitative participatory research methodology under, which community representatives assisted by professional investigators undertake, the diagnosis of their territory and reflect on the future planning/management of their resources. Its objectives are to: 1) characterize the usla’s environmental and socio-economic assets; 2) identify the community’s strengths and weaknesses; 3) value its problems and constraints and find out and classify its priorities; 4) identify with it, the preliminary potential interventions to be carried out within the programme; 5) appreciate its likely future contributions as well as its potential future organizational and managerial set-up. The CTSG team provided adequate training on RPD to both the central and regional technical teams in the governorates of Taiz, Lahej and Aden. The national team provided afterwards training on RPD to the other regional teams concerned. The first RPD exercise was entirely implemented by the whole team in Taiz. The full description of the process is given in a separate report labelled “Tentative Schedule for the Design and Implementation of a Programme Training/Formulation Process”. Usla Brief Development Plans (UBDP) formulation: After the selected usla has been adequately diagnosed, the following step consists in formulating UBDPs, according to the outline prepared by the CTSG team. Each UBDP was requested to: 1) summarize and analyse all the participatory field data and information collected during the RPD of a usla; 2) use the data and information to rationalize the participatory planning and decision-making stages and formulate a local development plan, including possible interventions and contributions. The formulation of a WM&SMD sub-programme for each governorate was done, by integrating its various UBDP components into one common document. A restitution of each UBDP was made before the community, after which a regional workshop was organized so that stakeholders could discuss and approve the WM&SMD sub-programme document. The process was ultimately concluded with the organization of a national workshop. It is worth noting that the CTSG team has gradually left the national experts take over the selection- formulation process. The national personnel engaged, acquired the necessary capability and actually assumed alone68 the rest of the Usla selection, RPD and UBDP formulation exercises. 7.2 Programme approach: Past efforts of the WWPU and others have been helpful in creating enabling environments at central and community levels. This is especially true with regard to the community participation and decentralized planning approaches, which have been so far introduced within a limited number of areas and communities. There is hence a persistent need to continue addressing these issues by

68 Monitoring by the CTSG team was undertaken efficiently at distance, giving all opportunity for successful leading and initiative taking by the trained central team members.

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involving additional regions and targeting usla, district and governorate levels. At the same time it is important to address the subsisting management, policy and administration issues. It follows that people at different levels of the hierarchy have to take in charge and supervise the processes leading to the development and/or management of their own resources. They are as well, to lead the decision-making procedures and are to ensure governance and control over resources. Therefore, this programme will be implicated at central, governorate, district, usla and community levels. Taking into account the decentralization law and its implementation process, the WM&SMD Programme’s design seeks and allows for promoting horizontal and vertical coordination, cooperation and collaboration between all stakeholders. Key institutions linked to the sub-sector that sustain direct relations with the WM&SMD Programme in formulating, implementing and assessing the Area Based Development Plans (ABDP) include, the Central MAI, the AIO and the line directorates within the ministry (Planning, Plant Production, Forestry, Plant Protection, Livestock Production, Veterinary Services, Irrigation, Rural Women Development etc.) and their respective services within the AIO. Other key institutions linked to the Programme’s ABDPs are the Governorates, the Local Councils, the Planning Development and Finance Committees, the Social Affairs Committees and the Services Committees. At local level, those who are to sustain direct relations with the Programme include, farmers, associations, village and usla traditional and official authorities and elected bodies etc. Based on a number of acts, this framework is fully supported by the Local Administration Law No: 469. In addition to this, insuring the mobilization, coordination and full collaboration of different related governmental line-agencies, of community-based organizations, of the private sector and other NGOs is of utmost importance to this sub-sector. At present, the following governorate level institutions exist and are active in their respective fields: ACU, line agencies in the fields of urban planning, planning and development, health, education, social affairs, water and sanitation, the Environment Protection Authority, NGOs, and political parties and others. Therefore, it is important to consider establishing an institutional framework that would provide for the cooperation and coordination of all those related. The WM&SMD Programme attempts to ensure that the rural poor are supported in finding a way out of indigence. Its approach puts therefore emphasis on the empowerment and mainstreaming of the grass-root sections of the population. Thus, poverty alleviation and sustained livelihood within the framework of the WM&SMD Programme will be achieved through the creation of investment opportunities and the implementation of demand-driven initiatives. Capacity building is therefore to be considered as vehicle and end-output/objective. The WM&SMD Programme will provide assistance for the formulation and implementation of Community (territorial) Land Resources Management Master Plans (CLRMMP). While the Programme will emphasize on capacity building and processes, yielding concrete results and products will be targeted as well. Within this concept, local people will be viewed as responsible partners, rather than recipients or beneficiaries. They are therefore to play a leading role in the preparation, implementation, management, monitoring and review of their respective master plans. Applied and action-oriented research is needed to support further the Programme and ensure the sustainability of its interventions, its results and its impacts. Such demand-driven research would target activities that help acquire a better understanding of the development processes. Among many intervention areas to be considered for action-research are the following: P Technical, social and economic solutions to viable and environmentally sound interventions; P Working relations and association of local councils, their committees, the executive or civil service, community organizations, the private sector etc. P Strategies addressing sustainability and the process approach; P Self-assessment methodologies and strategies; and 69 The Local Authorities Law or Law No. 4 for the Year 2000 Regarding Local Authority.

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P Relation with the central government and related support. Such activities would entail strong links with research institutions. 7.3 Programme strategy: The Programme’s strategy is to be geared towards rural development and poverty alleviation, if not eradication. It calls for a multi-disciplinary approach requiring strong national capacity building and close collaboration between all stakeholders concerned, from central and local government bodies to technical services, community organizations etc. No lasting result is thought to be possible without community participation from planning to implementation and management. The main strategic themes, which the Programme and its related stakeholders need to focus their collective attention on, are the following: Rural development: Rural development should not be strictly confined to the limited ecological capacities of the land. The “carrying capacity” concept in rural development should also integrate the economic capacities and potentials (availability of capital credit, work force, organization and innovation potentials, market, food and financial aids, remittances etc.) of the targeted regions. Such a concept opens the way to off-farm production investment opportunities, which can contribute substantially to local rural development. The Programme’s aspiration is therefore to promote, off-farm activities, knowing that these generally feature positive impacts on farming systems (paragraph 5.5.1) However, the Programme should be careful not to enhance the negative impacts of off-farm activities, which may consist in reducing the amount of farm labour available, as this would constitute a constraint, particularly at time of peak work force demand, placing inevitably extra burden on women and children, when it is men who engage in off-farm activities. Integrated management: The traditional “top-down” approach to watershed management, focused on the conservation of the natural resources has failed in most cases, to achieve the desired results. Since then, an integrated management approach has been devised, which offers motivation and short-term benefits to the beneficiaries. It is nowadays accepted as being key to the success of watershed management long-term programmes’ implementation. It implies a comprehensive consideration of the resources with regard to the management. It also entails the following: ! Rationalizing the land-use patterns, according to the land-use capabilities and other correlated environmental criteria; ! Optimising the use of natural renewable resources within the concepts of multiple purpose use and continuous yield of goods and services; ! Protecting water resources’ quality, quantity and timing; ! Conserving the productivity of soils ! Ensuring the recovery and sustainable as well as profitable use of all renewable natural resources-woodlands, rangelands, agricultural land etc. ! Providing greater economic opportunities and market incentives to earn a living outside agriculture, thereby reducing the pressure on land resources; ! Promoting environmentally sound economic and agricultural activities that yield high returns at low cost and, with less risks; It must be acknowledged that managing watersheds is an act of development to be undertaken within an integrated and holistic multi-sector-oriented and long-term approach that entails sustainable mountain development. The request for integration and coordination between the authorities and the population, in planning and implementing interventions aims at rationalizing the natural resources’ exploitation, thereby raising the efficiency of resources and/or services’ production for the beneficiaries’ benefit. Three major factors need be taken into account when developing an integrated watershed management plan:

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P Technical: Techniques and conservation measures should be technically sound; P Social: Human activities and behavioural patterns should be considered; P Economical: Investments and benefits from outside and inside points of view should be evaluated. The development of the mountainous areas should be taken into consideration within the overall framework of sustainable development of natural resources. It should be an integrated approach that includes modifying hydrological behaviour patterns, ensuring environmental stability and fostering regional development. Precluding any one of the above will reduce the overall effects of the interventions. Watershed should not be considered separately, from other environmental and economical sectors. Thus, it is necessary, to merge watershed development activities with national development plans and strategies, both locally and regionally and with the relevant agreement and initiatives. Sustainable development: The concept of sustainable development with the ability to replicate positive results should form the cornerstone of the programme. All efforts should be devoted to provide sustenance to natural resources, thereby building up the capacity of the beneficiaries. Sustainability is also the logical starting point for project justification, feasibility and economic viability. In addition, the programme must be feasible, have the ability for continuation financially, be socially acceptable and ecologically sound, and possess the prerequisites for institutional sustainability. Decentralisation: The system of centralized government services has so far limited the ability of local administrations to provide effective services, both at municipal and rural levels. Communities should therefore be given an enhanced role in public administration and development planning and decision-making, particularly in the domain of watershed management and sustainable mountain development. Decentralization70 in the ROY also means giving the people more participation in the choice of their leaders71 and conferring Governors, in particular, and to some extent District General Directors, more authority to plan and manage the affairs of their jurisdiction through the local councils. The challenge, with regard to the WM&SMD Programme is to move towards a decentralized, participatory, bottom-up, service-oriented type of government as implied in the new Local Administration Law, which requires a fundamental transformation in thinking, attitude and behaviour. Experience shows that, decentralization depends on the availability of sufficient funds to fulfil part, if not most of the aspirations of local communities. These expectations can be quite unrealistic and need to be managed by means of people’s participation’s promotion in planning and deciding their proper development. This requires strong capacity building of the local governments’ financial, technical and managerial skills, keeping in mind that, the capacity, resource and administrative constraints that exist at the central level, would otherwise be carried over to the local level. Participation: Much progress has been achieved worldwide in watershed management, especially during the 1990-2000 period, where new approaches and methodologies have been adopted, promoting participatory integrated watershed management. Yemen has also been the theatre of some progress accomplished through the WWPU project, which introduced the participatory approach to watershed management. Recognizing that managing and conserving land resources through physical structures, reforestation and other conventional conservation measures alone, is neither sustainable nor replicable, the participatory, integrated watershed management and mountain development approach to be developed within the WM&SMD Programme ought to include in addition to technical aspects, the economic, social, political, administrative and cultural dimensions to resources’ conservation and management. Past experience has shown that participation is the key to ensure public involvement, sense of belonging and sustainability of natural resources’ management. However, the concept of participation should not be limited only to the involvement of target beneficiaries and stakeholders but should also 70 Inspired from notes from: The Path Toward Local Administration for the ROY - Draft for discussion prepared for the Government of the ROY and the Donor community by: Bob Boase (Canada) – 19 May, 2001. Sana’a, Yemen. 71 Except for the Governor and the District General Director.

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be extended to include local government and non-government bodies and organizations. Interventions should be planned and implemented with the full involvement of the beneficiaries. In this sense, participatory appraisals will be adopted, aiming to achieve an interactive planning between planners and concerned beneficiaries. Adopting the participatory approach requires that the following issues be taken into consideration: P Bottom-up planning is seen as consuming a lot of time; P Government objectives may be conflicting with local people priorities; P Local influential group/member’s interests may jeopardize the planning; P Conventional rigid programme objectives may make people’s participation a difficult task; P The population of upland areas’ is unable to afford watershed management activities if, it is not supported by the government in achieving them; To fulfil the expected results of sustainable land resources management, the national watershed management programme preparation should take into account the following measures:

Coordination: the planning and implementation of activities should be negotiated and coordinated at different levels among all concerned parties;

Extension: plays an important role in raising public awareness on sustainable land resources management. It also proposes development options to the beneficiaries and ensures permanent dialogue and contact with the rural communities;

Training: represents a major factor in sustaining watershed management programmes; it improves farmers’ knowledge and skills and technicians qualifications

Research: Provides farmers and executing agencies with suitable management systems, taking into account the country’s socio-economic changes and the natural resources’ present situation. Poverty alleviation: It is tacit that the influence of poverty and environmental deterioration on one-another is mutual and profound. Due to their dire conditions, the rural poor try to acquire the largest possible portion of ephemeral benefits from natural resources in order to meet their basic needs of the moment, by over-exploiting and subsequently deteriorating them. This creates a vicious cycle of worsening conditions for the poor that lead to even greater environmental degradation. The programme will directly address the issues related to poverty alleviation through targeting the lowest income and other marginal groups, and promoting employment and/or income-generating activities. Special emphasis is placed on targeting and involving women. This should bring about increased productivity and positive results to the beneficiaries in the target areas as well as communities living downstream, particularly at household level. Gender orientation: The gender gap in education, employment, incomes and rights is generally large in Yemen particularly among the poverty-stricken and deprived traditional and highly conservative mountain communities. Indeed, “Gender inequality is among the most serious forms of social injustice as it not only represents a denial of human rights, but also deprives the nation of talents and capabilities of half of its population”72. Reducing the gap would be highly beneficial to productivity and to the improvement of quality of life. Investing in enhancing women’s capabilities, promoting opportunities for women and reducing gender inequality represent ways of empowering women, of enabling them to make informed choices in participatory decision-making, both at the family, as well as at the community, regional and national levels. Enhancing women’s capabilities needs therefore to be a high priority on the agenda of the WM&SMD Programme. “However, Yemen’s social and religious traditions would doom a frontal 72 United Nations in Yemen, January 2001 – YEMEN COMMON COUNTRY ASSESSMENT.

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assault on the gender gap”73 Securing social justice for rural women in particular, in a way that is non-threatening and non-controversial in the conservative socio-cultural context of the mountainous regions, is to promote their health and well being, to raise levels of education and training among them, and to enable them to use their skills profitably and have access to assets - financial capital, processing micro-enterprises, marketing facilities etc. The programme will therefore be gender responsive. Women’s needs and priorities are to be taken into serious account and in an adequate manner. The baseline studies and surveys and the diagnosis of the situation will be undertaken using gender analysis approach and tools. During the implementation, special support will be provided to women mainstreaming and empowerment. This will also be reflected in the organizational structure, resources allocation and targeting of beneficiaries. Governance and human rights: Strengthening local governance can be achieved by devolving authority and a significant proportion of resources to the local authorities, in an effort to be more responsive to the needs of communities at grass-root level. Empowering local authorities and communities and giving them a say in decisions governing their daily life, should contribute to reducing the confidence gap between society and the government body. This should ultimately facilitate the mobilization of local resources in the form of tax-collection, voluntary donations and contributions and donor funding. Together, these should constitute for the local authorities a major source of investment in local development. Strengthening local governance needs therefore to be provided with adequate technical assistance for building up the capacity of local governments that have remained undeveloped, despite their essential role in initiating and accompanying local development initiatives. Empowering local governance through a broader citizen participation in decision-making and enhanced performance of central and local governments in local development is therefore essential for the success of the WM&SMD Programme. Human resource development: Substantial training schemes capable of coping with the lack of local expertise in participatory development methods and natural resource management are essential elements of any programme seeking to establish sustainable, participatory and integrated watershed management and mountain development. Investments made to build teams capable of promoting WM&SMD at the local level should be secured through arrangements that would later make room for these teams to integrate the staff of local governments, line agencies, NGOs etc. with positions and responsibilities consistent with their training and experience. Watershed management and sustainable mountain development require a wide range of technical expertise not available within any single line agency. To meet these needs, two options are possible. The first one, which consists in hiring ad-hoc qualified staff, generally leads to higher efficiency and better team integration. The second option, which entails mobilizing professionals from relevant line agencies and institutions, allows for greater sustainability and a wider dissemination of the programme’s approach among local institutions. In most practical settings and therefore so with the WM&SMD Programme, it is best to strike a balance between these two options. Sense of common ownership: It is essential that communities, local organizations and authorities as well as line ministries, have a sense of common ownership over the Programme from the start. This is achieved through the association of all, from the initial stages. It may be argued that an early involvement of citizens in the formulation of a community-driven programme, could lead to high population expectations that may or may not be fully satisfied. While this may well be the case, it is also true that progressive advancements cannot be achieved without taking risks and being flexible and innovative is all what the WM&SMD Programme is about.

73 Memorandum of the President of IDA and the IFC on a Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank Group for the ROY, May, 3. 1999.

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VIII. ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS 8.1 Programme set-up and linkages: The diagram below show the Programme’s set up and organization at the governorate and usla levels. 8.1.1 Programme set-up:

Governorate, District and Usla Levels

Governorate level

Abbreviations used: AIO – Agriculture & Irrigation Office, TPO – Technical Program Officer, Specialists P, A, W, I, - Representatives of the line directorates within the agriculture office (e.g. animal production, plant protection, women, irrigation etc.), At each usla level there is one facilitator and 1 technical staff. At community level: To the avail of supporting and exercising decentralization, the Programme’s interventions, from planning to execution, monitoring and evaluation, will be conceived and implemented at community level, with the optimal participation of individuals, families and local communities or villages. Efforts at this level would also include raising awareness as well as mobilizing and organizing communities into local organizations and associations. Needless to say however, that interventions taking place at a higher-level will require to be planned, implemented and managed at a superior level, namely at usla level. At usla level: Given the experience gained by the GCP/YEM/026/NET project, in planning at community level, it is now necessary and at the same time realistic to aim at a higher level of participatory intervention planning. Following the on-going decentralization process in Yemen, it appears reasonable at this initial stage of the Programme, to aim at a level of planning corresponding to the lowest administrative unit existing in the country. Planning is therefore to be initially performed at usla level. To target representative and at the same time diversified intervention zones, planning will take place in two uslas belonging each to separate districts within each selected governorate.

TPO

Usla 2 1 fac., 1 tech.




Counterparts

Counterparts

Counterparts

Counterparts

Specialists P, A, W, I

Admin

AIO

District 2. District 1

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Composed of a number of distinct villages and/or communities, the uslas will constitute therefore the Programme’s lowest planning units. It is at this level that detailed Community Land Resources Management Master Plans (CLRMMP) are to be prepared early on, by the Programme. The villages within the uslas will then prepare their specific village master plans. These local master plans will further be refined into mini-project intervention files. Community organization is also another key intervention to be commenced early at this level in order to enable the implementation, management and monitoring of the master plans. At district level: The districts’ programmes will be put together, making use of the various usla's CLRMMPs. It follows that the districts’ Local Councils and their Committees (Services, Planning, Development and Finance, and Social Affairs) will first have to review the various usla master plans, and assist in approving them and in providing the required inputs needed for their implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The local teams of the WM&SMD Programme’s will then use and extrapolate the core data, information and proposals for action generated in the process of preparing the various usla’s CLRMMPs, to formulate the district’s Watershed Management and Sustainable Mountain Development Programme. The latter would not only embody the combined practical interventions devised at usla level, but would as well integrate the overall management, coordination, implementation and monitoring procedures and inputs, as well as the measures to facilitate and promote durably community based development through the mobilization of the different line agencies. At governorate level: Following the same procedure as described above, the Programme’s decentralized teams will prepare each, a WM&SMD Programme for their respective governorates. Data and information generated and gathered at the district level will be used for this purpose. In the same way as previously expressed, the governorates’ WM&SMD Programmes would not only embody the combined practical interventions considered for the local uslas and districts, they would also feature the overall management, coordination, implementation and monitoring procedures and inputs, as well as the measures to facilitate and promote durably local development through the mobilization of the different line agencies. The governorates’ Local Councils and Coordination Committees will initially review the district programmes, arrange for their approval and devise the procedures for their funding, implementation and monitoring. The governorates’ authorities will facilitate and assist in the execution of the local policies, their review, adjustment and eventual amendment, whenever required. The governorates will, as well mobilize local and donor support for the programmes. At national level: At the national (central) level, efforts will primarily focus on the formulation, review and amendment of policies, on global monitoring and evaluation of the Programme, on assistance in the development of technical packages, on technical training and support, and in the development of approaches and strategies. The Master Plans and the annual work plans are to be cleared at this level, when ready. The central level will endorse calls for funds at the time the annual plans are cleared. In a subsequent phase of the National WM&SMD Programme and following adequate local capacity building and improved field experience, planning for the WM&SMD Programme will be achieved at district level and ultimately at governorate level. Governorates will then be in a position to define their approach and long-term objectives in terms of WM&SMD and plan interventions accordingly at their level. After this, long-term planning of WSM&SMD at national level will result from merging the various regional plans. Depending upon the progress made in training national staff, communities and stakeholders, and upon the improvements achieved in capacity building at all the levels of the hierarchy, the Programme would eventually be formulated for the very long term and would cover the national territory in its entirety.

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The diagram below shows the Programme’s set up and organization at governorate and usla levels.

Central Level Abbreviations: PCC – Program coordination committee, NSC – National steering committee, PTACV - Program technical advisory committee, PCO – Program coordinator officer, NTT – National technical team (W- women, G- , C- , M- ), TA – Technical assistance, SNC. 8.1.2 Programme linkages: The overall Programme strategy promotes decentralized participatory development. The strategy and approach attempt to strengthen different aspects of watershed management and sustainable mountain development. Specifically, they attempt to address the elements related to: planning, coordination, resources’ mobilization, programme implementation, management and monitoring. To approach such aims, the vertical and horizontal relations and linkages are to be clearly defined and supported. This would help strengthen the participatory approach proposed and will provide for transparency and good governance. Vertical Linkages: These are top-down and bottom-up linkages. The participatory planning process used for the formulation of the CLRMMPs, and the subsequent preparation of annual plans, and thereafter their submission to the local councils and governorates constitutes the bottom-up linkage. At this point in time, the aspirations that may be expressed at governorate and central levels with regard to technical, planning and managerial aspects of development, are to be in adequacy with the communities’ absorptive capacity and therefore, closely associated and linked with their actual aptitudes and existing local and indigenous knowledge and know-how.

NTT W, G, C, M

Counterparts

Secretary

SNC

Admin

Finance

International TA

PCO

NSC PTAC PCC

MAI

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Additionally, and with respect to social engineering and to the mobilization of resources, the assistance to be provided by various agencies in assembling and bringing together the formerly dispersed and diffused resources for the benefit of the rural communities involved in the Programme, constitutes likewise a vertical linkage. Horizontal Linkages: Different institutions and stakeholders would be approached and asked to examine the master plans in order to identify ways and means by which they could assist in implementing relevant components. The communities and their representatives would also engage in mobilizing resources including manpower, local equipment and finance. The coordination capacity to be developed by the Programme’s teams to harmonize the efforts would set up a rather effective horizontal linkage that should pull together all concerned stakeholders and optimise the utilization of the resources available. As a result, isolated and individualistic initiatives taken to serve specific technical, economic or political agendas that are not socially, environmentally and economically acceptable, may be underrated and/or rejected for lack of social support and consensus. 8.2 Modality for planning, management and implementation: Considering the decentralized, integrated and participatory features of the WM&SMD Programme, the following set-up should constitute and adequate institutional arrangement to warrant a satisfactory Programme implementation. It should furthermore, following suitable capacity building at all levels of the hierarchy, constitute a sustainable institutional set up for full national execution, once external technical assistance is brought to an end. The detailed diagrams showing the organizational arrangements are given in section 8.1.1. Programme’s built-in mechanism: The WM&SMD Programme is, as already mentioned an innovative approach to participatory decentralized rural development. It is in fact a learning process, which needs to be very flexible, allowing for possible changes in expected outputs, as an adaptation form to actual capacity and experience build up. For this reason, the programme is to provide for continuing progress in development, through a Process Approach. It must therefore make room for a built-in planning mechanism that would allow for periodic reviews of the overall Programme and its different sub-programmes at governorate level. Review and planning exercises could be performed every two years during the first five-year phase of the Programme, to allow for its adjustment and that of its decentralized components. During such a process, the review teams would look into the validity of the identified set of objectives, expected outputs and interventions and would, if justified and defensible, suggest their expansion, alteration and/or adjustment. The process may moreover propose the allocation of additional resources and funds for the initiation of new and indispensable interventions. The usla level plans will take about 2 weeks to complete with an experienced team. These will then be re-examined every 2 years and their revision completed in a period of 2-3 days. Arrangements at central level: The Programme, which is to be implemented at decentralized level, requires nonetheless some solid institutional arrangements at central level.

Setting-up a National Steering Committee for the WM&SMD Programme: A National Programme Steering Committee (NPSC) would be established that includes members focused on land resources management and conservation. It would comprise representatives of the following ministries: MAI, MPD, CHUP, local administration. In addition, the Steering Committee should include the Governors and Local Council Representatives of the target regions, EPA, NWRA, LWASA, AREA etc. The NPSC’s main tasks are: P Foster and institutionalise the coordination between the main partners in watershed management and sustainable mountain development; P Analyse, evaluate and disseminate information on WM&SMD; P Monitor the progress of WM&SMD measures and interventions and recommend and/or approve necessary amendments to the National WM&SMD Programme;

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P Initiate, lead and guide the preparation of revised WM&SMD programmes, keeping in mind the development and immediate objectives and outputs and their actual progress and constraints within the Five-Year planning cycles; P Monitor budget execution and promote funding contributions from the government, civil society and the international donor community; P Inform the government and be accountable for the successes achieved and the failures endured. The lack of coordination arrangements among institutions is a key constraint with regard to the Programme’s implementation. Considering the number of agencies concerned with watershed management and rural development, the establishment of inter-agency committees both at central and governorate levels would strengthen cooperation and coordination among agencies, with regard to control, decentralized planning and overall implementation. Setting-up a Programme Coordination Committee: The PCC’s attributions (exhaustive list in annex 4) would include: Setting-up national priorities, assisting in defining the division of responsibilities, arranging for efficient collaboration, assisting in appraising, reviewing and adjusting the Programme, monitoring the achievements of the Regional Technical Committees, reviewing progress reports, monitoring and evaluating the Programme etc. To be functional and effective, the PCC would be headed by a full-time designated officer and assisted by a full-time Technical Secretariat composed of: i) an integrated watershed management specialist; ii) a gender specialist; iii) a community participation specialist; iv) a monitoring and evaluation specialist. Focal points would also be assigned with other line directorates within the MAI to facilitate coordination. The PCC should have the possibility to plan and recruit additional specialists under national and/or international consultancy contracts. It would have its premises within the GDFDC or any other central premises of the MAI.

Involvement of the International Year of Mountain (IYM) National Committee: The IYM National Committee would be closely involved in following up the Programme formulation and implementation. It would contribute in promoting the IYM objectives and expected outputs within the WM&SMD. It would likewise, inform the members of the IYM of the methods developed and the progress achieved by the WM&SMD Programme, setting the basis for profitable exchanges and networking between various national mountain development programmes, projects and partners. Arrangements at governorate level: The DG of the AIO is responsible for the implementation of the governorate’s WM&SMD Sub-Programme. He is to be assisted in this, by a Governorate Technical Committee (GTC), chaired by himself and, composed of representatives of the following ministries: MAI, Local Administration, Education, Tourism and Environment, Social and Labour Affairs, Public Health, and Electricity and Water. In addition, the GTC would include representatives of EPA, NWRA, AREA, relevant active NGOs and Associations, the Cooperative Bank etc. The other partners would be informed by the DG through the executive authority regulating meetings. The establishment of a GTC at each targeted governorate would be instrumental in setting-up the basis for good technical intervention preparation, cooperation and coordination that would be translated into practical recommendations to be submitted to the Governorate’s Local Council. The main tasks of the GTC are listed in annex 5. Arrangements at district level: The Director of the Agriculture Branch (DAB) at District level is responsible for the implementation of the local WM&SMD interventions. He reports to AIO and to the district local council. The DAB is, assisted by a Core Implementation Team (CIT) composed of four groups or individual specialists74 namely:

74 This would depend on the availability of staff on one hand, and on a full justification of the necessity to have more than one individual for each aspect of implementation, on the other hand.

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P A group lead by a community participation specialist, in charge of the community’s participation in interventions, including population organization, awareness activities and population training and capacity building; P A group lead by a watershed specialist, in charge of all watershed management activities and agriculture, water resources, woodlands and rangelands rehabilitation and development related interventions; P A group lead by a gender specialist, in charge of women activities and empowerment; P A group lead by an Administration and Finance specialist, in charge of running the budget and assisting in providing services (roads, schools, health services etc.) to the community and creating off-farm economic opportunities for the community. The CIT at district level working in full integration to guarantee adequate implementation levels of the WM&SMD interventions, is responsible, among others, for the following: P Carrying out basic studies (preparing usla Master Plans and technical intervention files); P Planning and implementing programme interventions within the various uslas targeted; P Carrying out community training and awareness raising; P Providing technical assistance to usla WM&SMD Programme facilitators; P Co-ordinating with concerned stakeholders; P Promoting NGOs participation and contribution to the programme implementation; P Monitoring and evaluation; P Reporting to the Director of the Agriculture Branch etc. Arrangements at usla level: Field implementation organization and administration at usla level will be directly supervised by two facilitators75 to be selected and/or recruited by the DG of AIO at Governorate level. The team of facilitators is, directly instructed by the DAB at District level.

NB. The Regional Coordination Committees established during the process of decentralized programme formulation, to facilitate the field studies and activities of the mixed formulation teams will, be discontinued. Their role towards the WM&SMD Programme will be assumed by the existing three Regional Coordination Committees, i.e. Planning, Development and Finance; Social Affairs; and Services.

8.3 Finance and budget control mechanisms: Based on the overall Programme agreed upon, decentralized sub-programmes76, community master plans and annual implementation plans that include budget and other resources’ requirements, will be prepared. These are to be initially endorsed by the respective concerned communities, local councils and executive authorities77 before being cleared by the Central Planning and Monitoring Directorate General (CPMDG) of the MAI and the relevant technical agencies. If no comments or objections are received from the CPMDG, the technical agencies, local councils and executive authorities within thirty days, the plans will be considered approved de facto. Budgetary allocations from both the local authority (counterpart budget) and the Donor funds will then be made for each of the governorate. The Donor’s contribution will be channelled in a straight line for the implementation of the field level plans and interventions. This is to be made by direct transfers to governorates’ special accounts, using similar arrangements as for the WWPU78. When direct management of budget is required, payments are to be made through withdrawal applications (Call for Fund) and countersigned by the PMDG/deputy minister, following technical

75 One community participation extension agent and one gender extension agent. 76 These represent the governorates’ respective WM&SMD Programmes. 77 At both district and governorate levels. 78 The WWPU arranges for transfer of funds agreed upon by the technical committee and the project management, on a quarterly basis. These transfers are made directly to the decentralized project’ unit’s account at the governorate level.

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clearance from the central technical agencies. Applications “Call for Fund” are to be initiated by the governorate’s agriculture office and submitted together with governorate office plans. They should not be held more than two weeks for technical clearance and approval. If any adjustments should be required, the concerned offices should report them through the PMDG, within the specified period. The clearing agency should make explicit statements as to the reasons that brought about the refusal for clearance. If this is not done within the specified interval of time, the PMDG is to approve the “Call for Fund” application and approve the allocation of funds, without ensuing delays to the intended interventions’ implementation. To ensure the Programme’s smooth operation, each governorate will open a special account for the allocation of Donor’s contribution. The AIO and the Governor Offices will manage these accounts. While the AIO and its finance control section will be responsible for day-to-day fund control operations, the finance section of the Governor’s Office will be required to keep an overall track and records for these accounts. The central organization for control and audit branch at the governorate will take responsibility for the regular audit and control of the funds. If deemed necessary by the Donor, special audit and finance control exercises will be organized and implemented at any time. The Donor is required, in this case, to inform the governorate and other relevant institutions. These procedures will be verified and discussed with the appropriate authorities to ensure they are in line with the established financial government policies and procedures. Funds needed at central institutions or agencies’ level for the implementation of the central components of the Programme, are to be channelled with similar arrangements to central agencies through the MAI central offices. Until such system is well developed and all concerned, at all levels of the hierarchy, are well informed about it and have the capacity to manage the funds correctly and accurately, these will be channelled and managed by a Technical Assistance Cooperating Agency. With respect to technical assistance (TA) funding, different arrangements could be made, depending on the type of TA and the agencies or firms involved in the provision of such services. Funds in this case will go directly to the executing agency and will be managed by that specific agency. This aspect needs further discussion with the concerned partners. The PMDG and other central technical agencies of the MAI will be responsible for the overall monitoring of the Programme, including the timely delivery of all resources and their wise and judicious use and management, as well as for the adherence to plans’ implementation schedules. The experience of the WWPU in this regard could prove to be of very useful assistance. Indeed, although the funds were managed through the TA, they have also been co-handled by the national team. In fact, the project units’ national teams have run more than 85% of the funds used in the country, with the technical assistance of the project’s head-office. The other 15% of the Donor funds were managed by the TA agency in association with the national team at central level. The financial management system used was the well-proven and renowned FAO financial system. Since there is no clear procedure and/or mechanism to manage and administer the Donor funds, there is a strong need to establish one. To this avail, and in order to allow for appropriate capacity building of the national institutions concerned, it is suggested that the present WWPU cooperating TA agency (FAO) be selected and given full responsibility over the management of all of the Programme’s funds for a 2-3 year period. During this period of time, the agency will be required to prepare a suitable and sustainable financial and administration design. Also, the agency will conduct the training of national teams on how to run such a system and manage and administer rationally Donor funds. This approach ought to allow for smooth implementation and for future sustainability of the system. Needless to say that while these procedures should be sound, efficient and effective, they should also be in line with the existing government system and should allow for governance and transparency as well. Within such a scenario, an approach similar to that of the WWPU could be used during the period specified for the design and smooth functioning of the system.

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Regarding Donor funds, there should be no limit as to the number and origin of Donors. Therefore it is possible for other financiers and funding agencies to participate (at any moment of the Programme’s implementation) either as co-financiers of by financing discrete components within the programme. This is built on the WWPU experience of mobilizing external resources and in line with the Sector-Wide Approach, which emphasizes a multi-donor sectoral support and donor coordination. Co-financing from RNE, WB, WFP, UNDP etc. will be actively sought for the programme. The local plans as well as the implementation phase must be somewhat flexible, as they will undoubtedly encounter unexpected externalities or new findings, which will directly or indirectly influence the Programme. Most decisions entail additional costs that might not be met by existing expenditures’ levels. If no additional funds are identified on time, these should probably be postponed. Finally, a decentralized financing mechanism79 should be ultimately established at district level to strengthen the local capacity in financing the delivery of public goods and services at the district, the usla and the village levels. It is recommended that Donor-provided funds be also channelled through the “District Development Fund” to be established. 8.4 CLRMMP Preparation and Implementation Approach: The participatory usla Community Land Resources Management Master Plans (CLRMMP) and district development programmes are to be taken as technical and social packages under the area based development programme that attempt to promote: P Local people’s capacity building; P Sustained land resources’ management; P Ownership of development interventions and processes; P Coordination of developmental efforts and of mobilization of resources; and P Possibilities for effective and efficient (cost-effective) development. In the end it is likely that such efforts will participate substantially to poverty alleviation. Improved governance will also be targeted and dealt with. In view of the fact that all stakeholders are to be involved, agencies will be required to promote a more transparent decision-making process that is answerable to local people, their organizations and representatives. Within such a framework, political authorities (at all levels), especially the local councils, the technical agencies, and the community organizations, act collectively to promote sustainable social and economic development. Lastly this approach will assist to bridge the "confidence gap" presently existing amongst the technical agencies and finally leading to healthier institutional environment. IX. TARGET AREAS & BENEFICIARIES BRIEF PROFILE 9.1 Target areas: Eight governorates constitute at present the target areas. Within each one of them, two uslas belonging each to different districts constitute the actual target areas. The following table is a brief presentation of the data of each selected governorate. Other detailed information is presented in annex 10.

79 United Nations in Yemen, January 2001 – YEMEN COMMON COUNRTY ASSESMENT.

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Table 6: Primary Socio-Economic Indicators in the WMSMD Programme’s Selected Areas.

Illiteracy %

Basic Education Attendance %

Gov

erno

rate

Popu

latio

n Si

ze

(,000

)

Popu

latio

n de

nsity

(x

/km

2 )

Lab

our

forc

e %

% E

mpl

oyed

Lab

our

Forc

e in

A

gric

ultu

ral S

ecto

r (%

)A

vera

ge M

onth

ly

Spen

ding

Per

% o

f Fam

ilies

Fa

cing

Foo

d

% o

f Fam

ilies

B

elow

Abs

olut

e Po

vert

yL

ine

Mal

e

Fem

ale

Tot

al

Mal

e

Fem

ale

Tot

al

Popu

latio

n w

ith

Acc

ess t

o M

edic

al

Serv

ices

% o

f Pop

ulat

ion

with

Ele

ctri

city

% o

f Pop

ulat

ion

with

Wat

er

% o

f Pop

ulat

ion

with

San

itatio

n

Sana’a Municipal.

1,488 3,911 21.5 7.2 2.3 63 10.1 20.8 13.3 42.1 27.9 70.5 65.2 67.9 105,710 98.0 82.0 98.0

Sana’a 1,352 97.6 27.3 9.0 70.5 44 23.8 28.4 40.2 87.1 63.9 79.9 32.8 57.5 16,895 36.0 25.0 18.0 Aden 504 666.9 27.7 2.6 2.4 40 16.6 32.0 13.7 34.4 24.2 87.7 78.2 83.0 32,981 96.0 98.0 97.0 Taiz 2,296 229.4 23.2 12.2 50.1 30 32.9 41.1 28.3 68.3 50.9 86.3 59.7 73.2 28,528 32.0 29.0 34.0 Hodeidah 1,942 146.6 26.2 12.4 50.3 23 33.6 39.4 48.2 77.4 63.2 56.5 35.4 46.4 48,861 28.0 46.0 33.0 Lahej 650 51.4 19.8 2.6 39.3 34 26.2 30.2 27.2 73.0 51.6 88.0 51.1 70.1 49,331 40.0 33.0 30.0 Dhamar 1,200 158.2 25.9 7.5 65.0 37 21.4 28.3 42.0 86.2 65.1 82.2 31.0 57.4 28,155 33.0 25.0 20.0 Shabwa 455 11.7 17.3 1.4 33.7 48 25.2 34.8 29.1 83.3 57.7 73.5 31.7 53.9 106,273 67.0 53.0 35.0 Mahweet 452 193.6 22.9 2.4 66.2 32 23.2 28.8 42.8 86.7 65.6 75.0 36.9 56.4 62,822 25.0 18.0 16.0 Total 10,339 57.3 479,556

Average 607.4 23.53 42.21 39 23.7 31.5 31.6 70.9 52.2 77.7 46.9 62.9 50.5 45.4 42.3

The following table gives details of the current and ongoing projects in the selected areas: Table 7: Ongoing Rural Development Projects in Selected Governorates

Governorates

Rural Development Projects available

Sana'a WWPU Project - LWCP Project - Highlands Project (Rural Development Authority) Sub-programme 4 (Land Resources Participatory Approach) Rural Development (Kowlan) - Rural Development (Reima)

Aden Poverty Alleviation Programme - WWPU Project

Taiz Regional Highlands - Poverty Alleviation Programme Ants project - IDAS Project - LWCP Project

Hodeidah Tihama Development Authority

Lahej Aid Agriculture Cooperation Project - Northern Governorates Development Poverty Alleviation Programme - LWCP Project

Dhamar WWPU Project - Rural Development Project LWCP Project

Shabwah Assisting Agriculture Project - Wadi Bayhan Project Eastern Cooperation Development Project - LWCP Project

Mahweet Rural Development Project for Al-Mahweet Governorate C A R E Organization project - LWCP Project

9.2 Programme beneficiaries: 9.2.1 Direct beneficiaries: Beneficiaries at community and usla levels: Mountain communities are the target groups of all activities to be carried out in the context of the WM&SMD Programme. They carry indigenous knowledge and the experience relative to the environment’s fragility, potentialities and opportunities. Contribution and cooperation of mountain communities are essential as these constitute a group of “long forgotten” citizens on one hand, and make it possible to base the development of new and adequate practises and relevant policy and strategy formulation on practical experience on the other hand.

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The direct beneficiaries of the Programme are constituted by, the global population residing within the Programme’s intervention sites. They are estimated to amount to ------ inhabitants and ----- families belonging to ------ villages and settlements distributed over 16 uslas and 16 districts all located within eight governorates. Beneficiaries at district level: The direct beneficiaries at district-level will include --- Local Councils, --- Planning, Development, and Finance Committees, --- Social Affairs Committees, and --- Social services Committees. Beneficiaries at governorate level: The direct beneficiaries within the governorates are the Agriculture and Irrigation Offices (AIO), the Governorate Office, the Local Councils, the line-agencies, NGOs and their respective staff as well as others to be involved in the CLRMMPs’ preparation and implementation approach. Beneficiaries at central level: The direct beneficiaries of the programme at central level will include MAI and its related directorates, the ACU and their staff. The total number of recipients in this group is estimated to be -------. 9.2.2 Indirect beneficiaries and benefits: The Programme’s indirect beneficiaries will include the population of the eight governorates targeted and their related districts. The benefits will include mastering planning and self-help processes and interventions, governance, accountability and transfer of competence and resources, better allocation of resources etc. Likewise, the organization of efficient and pragmatic coordination and resources’ mobilization arrangements among the institutions involved constitutes a substantial benefit. In addition, the indirect benefits will also include the gender responsive cross-sectoral advisory support to be provided by the Programme at all levels. X. PROGRAMME OUTPUTS AND DURATION 10.1 Potential Program interventions: With reference to the overall outputs mentioned above, the following are some potential non-exhaustive interventions for both women and men, within the WM&SMD programme. All seek to achieve sustainable rural development in the mountain regions and are committed to perform improved agricultural production, greater rural income generation and enhanced food security by encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable land management and soil and water conservation schemes. Subsequently, a whole range of interventions pertaining or related to natural resources’ husbandry, environmental conservation, local knowledge and know-how, overall support to local community development etc. are listed. It is however useful reminding that the ultimate interventions retained within the programme will be those expressed, fully justified and consciously agreed upon by the community as a whole. Ultimately, the Programme’s assistance in planning and managing land resources, should result following a period of 25-30 years, in strengthening relevant local institutions, organizations and populations, to the point where they are fully capable of identifying, addressing and solving the mountain-related problems of the country. In the meantime, the technical assistance must achieve a sense of intellectual ownership by providing adequate training and support to local communities and staff, in operating as well as elaborating themselves management and development techniques and methodologies that may be used, maintained and constantly improved in the future.

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Land resources’ protection, improvement, rehabilitation & management: Agricultural production system improvement: P Improving rain-fed and irrigated agricultural production systems by promoting such practices as crop rotation, organic and mineral fertilization, efficient water harvesting and water use, improved drainage, weed and pest control, crop processing and conservation etc. P Promoting cash-crop production with the objective of improving national food security and augmenting agricultural products’ exports; P Improving the management of collective property; P Terraces’ rehabilitation and extension; P Reducing erosion-induced soil loss and its associated siltation and water resources’ pollution; P Promoting farm level incentives for improved land management, soil conservation and pollution abatement and natural resources protection. Livestock husbandry: P Improving services to livestock and rangeland management; P Promoting self-sustaining animal health services at Usla level and training financially self-sufficient animal health assistants, integrated within Usla animal health services; P Training women leaders to disseminate low-cost and labour-saving technologies in animal husbandry and processing; P Promoting, with the participation of farmers and the collaboration of the research and extension services, experimentation on local fodder species’ cultivation, reproduction (regeneration and extension) and management techniques; P Disseminating improved technical packages in relation to livestock production. Woodland and rangeland protection, rehabilitation and management: Resources’ rehabilitation, conservation and management: P Improving woodland/rangeland organization, administration and supervision systems through the revival of traditional “Hema” protection arrangements, the promotion of advanced woodland/rangeland rehabilitation, regeneration and extension techniques and the formulation of sound and sustainable management schemes; P Promoting conservation of biodiversity and natural resources, and protecting historic and environmental sites/landscapes and developing eco-tourism for the benefit of rural communities; P Promoting the use of alternative energies (LPG, solar energy) and of improved wood stoves and ovens, to reduce the present compelling and abusive biomass exploitation (firewood, charcoal) for the satisfaction of domestic energy needs. Strengthening capacity and awareness for conservation and management: P Strengthening communities’ capability and awareness in the management of local natural resources by improving their skills and knowledge in relation to woodland and rangeland protection, natural regeneration, rehabilitation and extension through species’ multiplication and dissemination and in connection to their products’ utilisation and management; P Improving the communities’ skills and aptitudes in managing collective land property, parks, biological reserves etc. Water resources management through the implementation of: P Torrent control, wadi-training, bank protection together with soil and water mechanical and biological conservation interventions; P Various forms of water harvesting and storage; P Properly designed and assembled dams, check-dams etc.

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P Rehabilitated, improved and extended spate irrigation works; P Improved water-efficient irrigation systems. Promoting diverse income generation and alternative livelihood opportunities: P Promoting polyvalent private or collective village nurseries for all types of seedlings’ production and commercialisation; P Encouraging medicinal plants’ collection, processing, conservation and trade; P Creating mobile planting enterprises to satisfy local demand in fruit, forest etc. plantations; P Promoting, within forest and woodland management schemes, charcoal production and wood and non-wood forest products extraction and sale; P Backing-up handicrafts promotion and commercialisation; P Upgrading the value of local products through processing, conservation and commercialisation (honey, soaps, dies, paints, cosmetics, foodstuffs etc.); P Diversifying animal production and commercialisation (livestock rearing, poultry farming, apiculture, aquaculture etc.)

Income generation from Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) in upland conservation:

“ A growing base of experience in developing countries suggests that income generating activities with non-wood forest products (e.g. forest fruits, nuts, silk, resins and other exudates, spices, fibres, wildlife etc.) can help upland areas build a base of economic growth that capitalizes on available forest resources and encourages their management for sustained productivity” (FAO Conservation Guide No 30). In Yemen, just as elsewhere in the world, non-wood forest (woodland) products have always played significant roles. The sustainable management of these resources through the WM&SMD Programme should reinforce their, worth and weight in upland subsistence security, providing food, vitamins, medicine, household items etc.

Off-farm jobs’ creation and investment opportunities

Off-farm jobs’ creation and investment opportunities are necessary to prevent the rural jobless, landless and near-landless from being further compelled to fall back on exploiting marginal lands and increasingly mining the vanishing residual natural resources, to survive. Indeed, creating off-farm jobs and activities for the poor would i) reduce the pressure on natural resources and; ii) alleviate poverty and food insecurity. Off-farm activities would contribute yet again to reducing food insecurity through having positive impacts on farming systems, by:

R Supplementing farm incomes, thereby improving living and health conditions and accruing the opportunity to invest on farm inputs to increase agricultural production; R Earning substantial income to invest in improved land management measures such as terracing, soil and water conservation, irrigation efficiency, agroforestry etc. R Multiplying income earnings, thereby reducing risks to farmer households; R Offering opportunities for substantial savings and subsequently, the possibility to join Small Farmers’ Group Associations (see below); R Allowing landless and near-landless households to remain active in the rural world and participate to its development, at the same time reducing risks of degradation that come with excessive pressure on land resources and affect downstream productive and well managed agricultural farms; R Allowing for sufficient labour force to remain available in periods of peak on-farm activities.

Rural infrastructures’ development and services’ promotion: Road infrastructures: P Improving/extending road infrastructures: paved and unpaved roads, tracks, trails, bridges etc.

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P Realignment of rural roads to rectify poor drainage and its induced erosion that provokes land degradation over the whole catchment area; Water infrastructures: P Extending and improving water infrastructures: traditional and modern water harvesting infrastructures, water storage reservoirs, small dams, water pumping stations, drinking and irrigation water distribution networks; Services: P Promoting services’ infrastructures: Electricity networks, schools, polyclinics etc. and improving access to other services and to existing development funds; P Improving access to markets and trade. Civil society advancement: P Community and civil society organization – village comities and associations, cooperatives, enterprises; P Enhancing, NGOs, sandouqs etc.; P Supporting/enabling local governance and decentralized coordination and planning; P Facilitating linkages among diverse groups and institutions; P Improving communication linkages and flow of information; Promoting institutional and local capacity building and community’s empowerment: Institutional capacity building: P Restructuring and reinforcing the national, regional and local institutions concerned; P Training of technical, managerial and administrative staff at the various levels of the hierarchy in the domains of program approach and participatory program formulation and planning and decentralized implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Local capacity building and community empowerment: P Strengthening grassroots organizations: P Training of communities (awareness, literacy, skills improvement etc.); P Promotion of farmers’ innovation; P Promotion of sustainable small farmers’ group associations.

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Forming Sustainable Small Farmers’ Group Associations:

Public and private banks have encountered difficulties in providing durably credit for the rural poor. Past experience indicates that helping the poor individually is too expensive, and that formal large group approaches such as cooperatives have not been successful in eradicating poverty. As a result, development assistance agencies and NGOs have become increasingly interested in mobilizing local self-help potential of small rural producers and the poor “as a way to increase the economies-of-scale and the negotiating and marketing power of the rural poor”80. This has been materialized by the formation in the early 1980s, of small farmers group associations (SFGAs). These are informal, voluntary self-help groups composed of 5-15 small farmers from the same village or community, resolved to undertake mutually beneficial activities, leading to their economic and social well-being.

Among the advantages of small farmer group associations, the following: i) they can successfully perform

mutual social assistance activities for as long as needed; ii) they are willing to tackle large problems, especially in the economic sphere; iii) with other similar associations, they can increase their market power and gain access to other government, NGO or private sector services etc.

Among the difficulties, the following: i) small farmers working through SFGAs must acquire skills in collective decision-making and problem-solving, as well as notions of management; ii) alliance-building between SFGAs takes time and must not be rushed; iii) pressures are often exerted from the outside (donor and development agencies) to ‘scale-up’ and look for quick results in the name of “efficient delivery”, while change usually comes slowly in rural milieus; iv) SFGAs may be confronted to difficulties and obstacles coming from the privileged and the powerful who see them as a threat etc.

Promoting associations of small farmer organizations can be supported by donors and NGOs, provided they do not seek quick results and do not directly intervene in and control the affairs of these organisations. Supported by the WM&SMD Programme, farmers should define themselves their objectives and preferably mobilize the needed financial resources through voluntary savings. Group promoters can have a positive impact by acting as facilitators, providing information and advice, supporting training costs etc.

Promoting community approach to rangeland management, enhancing herders & farmers associations:

Gender sensitive organizations’ capacity building and female empowerment promotion: P Training local council representatives at different levels of the hierarchy, in the domains of program approach, participatory program formulation and planning, coordination and decentralized implementation, monitoring and evaluation; P Promoting managerial capacity-building and leadership-building practices; Improving economic development: P Improving cost effectiveness and institutional performance; P Promoting on-farm and off-farm income and revenue generating activities; P Supporting and augmenting local employment; P Boosting micro-credit and investment capacities; Research and Extension:

80 “Forming Sustainable Small Farmer Group Associations (SFGAs) more difficult than first thought” by Michael Cracknell (FAO), for the Secretariat of the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security.

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P Strengthening the link between research and extension; designing and implementing pilot activities on alternative extension approaches and methods; P Promoting research and extension on rain-fed agriculture with emphasis on seed and crop selection as well as water conservation and harvesting; P Testing pilot areas that can lead to valuable productivity improvement by considering the farm and individual agricultural plots as main sites for experimental design and research action; P Developing methods that make farmers participate to research, by incorporating their needs and their capacity for observation, innovation and experimentation as a complement to the present “high tech” transfer of technology; P Setting up through teaching, high-geared approaches to farmers associations, communication and training of trainers; P Enhancing self-reliance in dealing with technical innovations by selecting and training innovative resource-persons in each community and promoting farmer to farmer extension; P Developing and field-testing regional inventories and systematic extension planning programs; P Identifying priority extension materials to be duplicated and/or elaborated by the program and promoting their production, dissemination and utilization; P Developing, promoting, and disseminating improved technical packages that focus on sustainable natural resources management, irrigation practices, crop production, animal husbandry etc. P Developing and disseminating scientific as well as down-to-earth monitoring and evaluation systems to be operated respectively by the scientific and the rural communities; P Acknowledging and developing awareness as to the importance of traditional local agricultural products, the need to protect them and facilitate their distribution; P Production of newsletter. Evaluating, refining and updating relevant policies, strategies and legislation related to: P Watershed management and sustainable mountain development; P Community-based development; P Promotion of civil society etc. 10.2 Expected outputs: Essentially, the Programme’s approach embodies an interactive, sustainable demand-driven partnership between government and civil society, to address their common concerns with regard to watershed management and mountain development for their mutual benefit. Consistent with the emerging principles of good governance, a strong commitment is therefore required, on the part of the government, the local authorities, the people and their local representatives in accomplishing the following overall expected outputs of the program: Output 1. A flexible, gender sensitive participatory WM&SMD scheme is developed, that will build up progressively into a comprehensive national WM&SMD long-term programme; about 10-15 mini-project self help interventions established in each village. Output 2. Comprehensive mountain development and watershed related policies, strategies, and legislation formulated; Output 3. The principles pertaining to decentralized development and planning are translated into facts and civil society participation promoted through: P Decentralization and local governance accountability; P Revival of appropriate traditional/customary resource management and conservation systems; P Promoting people’s organization, training and participation.

32

Output 4. Innovative mountain specific development and conservation approaches are developed and promoted, and information, communication, knowledge and know-hoe upgraded; Output 5. Solid management and human and institutional capacities developed; Output 6. Upland household, food security and income needs are met substantially and social services and infrastructures improved; Output 7. Mountain-specific investment programmes are promoted through: P Farm production improvement; P Creation of off-farm enterprises for income and employment generation; P NWFP gathering, processing and commercialisation. Output 8. Mountains’ special status as commanded by the fragility of their ecosystems is fully acknowledged and translated into national policies and strategies; Output 9. Mountain eco-tourism is developed for the benefit of local communities and the environment; Output 10. An efficient monitoring and evaluation network system is set up. Owing to the Programme’s built-in mechanism, review and planning exercises are to be performed on a regular basis. These may result in the adjustment, through expansion or alteration of the Programme’s objectives and interventions. Needless to say that the expected outputs listed above, may equally be customized and tailored to the new situation. 10.3 Programme duration: Of long-term nature, the development objective is stated in terms of overall conservation of natural resources and poverty reduction in the uplands of Yemen, to be attained in the range of 25-30 years. The immediate objectives are to be completed over a period of 10 years. This would make it possible to achieve a better comprehension of the situation, through continual field observation as well as data and information generation and analysis, particularly through sustained monitoring and evaluation and research activities. Such a period is propitious to achieving substantial learning from training and experience build up (learning by doing). By this time, the process of administrative restructuring and decentralization would have reached an advanced stage, making a grassroots, bottom-up development approach a more realistic option. Moreover, the 10-year period proposed to achieve the Programme’s immediate objectives would coincide with two National Five-Tear Development Plans, thus providing for a halfway assessment of the Programme, keeping in mind the government’s 2025 Horizon Vision In terms of achieving immediate objectives, the programme includes sets of interventions to be determined at an early stage of programme implementation as well as of funding and contributions by the government, civil society and the donor community, in cycles of five years’ duration. This time frame is selected to coincide with the GOY Five-Year Plan periods as well as with the new synchronized programme cycles of most UN Agencies. It is hoped that this will further reinforce collaborative and complementary efforts and enhance their harmonization.

33

XI. INPUTS 11.1 Government inputs: (See annex 8 for details). The government’s inputs listed below, include the contribution to be made by each of the governorates, local councils and agricultural and irrigation offices. Table 8: Government inputs.

Government inputs81 Man/months

Sub-total in YR

Total in YR

Personnel (salary, allowances) - AIO counterparts (2/usla) : 4 counterparts/governorate

2 officers assigned in each Usla (32 counterparts at national level - salaries & entitlements covered by national contribution; salary supplements provided through donor contribution).

- Technicians/assistants for governorate82 =(2/governorate) - Liaison officer (1/governorate) (1/governorate) - Total personnel per governorate: (20 +1,8+1) Millions - Total personnel for the Programme: (22,800,000 x 8) Millions Labour force and casual contracts - Provision of YR 4,000,000/ governorate/year (AIO+L C)

This budget covers the costs of casual labour needed for field interventions (construction works, tree planting, guards etc.)

- Total labour force & casual contracts/governorate (5 yrs) - Total labour force & casual contracts for Programme Offices (including utilities, operation etc.)

MAI will provide office space for coordination & C.T.Team Governorates, AIOs &LCs will provide office space.

- Total rental, facilities, communication costs/governorate - Total rental, facilities & Programme communication costs Material and Documents

AIOs, Local Councils and Governorates provide these. - Total materials, documents etc. per governorate - Total materials, documents etc. for the Programme Compensation for land

Based on actual requirements, LCs & Governorates will avail such funds as compensation for land, whenever needed.

- Total compensation for land per governorate - Total compensation for land for the Programme Customs clearance, taxes, fees & storage

For each governorate, AIO, Local authorities and councils will provide together YR 1M for clearances, taxes etc

- Total customs clearance, taxes & storage per governorate - Total customs clearance, taxes & storage for Programme

60

48 48

60

12

60 60

60 60

60 60

60 60

60 60

20,000,000

1,800,000 1000,000

22,800,000 8 x

22,800,000

4,000,000

20,000,000 8 x

20,000,000

1,000,000 8 x 1,000,000

500,000

8 x 500,000

12,500,000

8 x 12,500,000

1,000,000 8 x 1,000,000

182,400,000

160,000,000

8,000,000

4.000.000

10,000,000

8,000,000

81 The government’s inputs include the contribution to be made by each of the governorates, local councils and agriculture and irrigation offices (AIO). 82 They are to assist in interventions implementation & in developing technical packages.

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Total government inputs for the Programme 372,000,000 11.2 Donor assistance: (see annex 9 for details). The total donor contribution (without support costs) is estimated at US $ 7, 552, 000 for the Five-year period. It is distributed as indicated in the following table. Table 9: Donor contribution.

Donor inputs Man/months Sub-total in US $

Total in US $

Technical assistance [5 yrs] - Senior Tech. Advisor (P5) [24 + 12 m/m] - Gender & Community Development expert (P4) [24 m/m] - Short-term international consultants Total of 14 m/m

R Watershed & Mountain Development consultant R Animal Production consultant R Mountain Development Policy consultant R Unspecified consultancies R Mid-term & terminal evaluations

- National consultants [to be identified] Including irrigation & water conservation, policies, credit & community institutions’ specialists etc.

- Contractual services [5 years] Contractual services et professional expertise provided by local specialists and/or agencies

R 5 National experts for Central level [48 m/m each] R 24 National experts for Governorate level [48 m/m each]

- Total Technical Assistance Operating expenses & administrative support [5 yrs] - General operation & maintenance.

This concerns operation & maintenance of Programme’s equipment, transport, reporting, communication, printing… costs

- Administrative support. This includes an administrative assistant for 24 months, temporary assistance and salary supplements for all Programme staff.

- Total Operating expenses & administrative support [5 yrs] Duty travel and missions [5 yrs]

This includes in-country travel for Programme staff, community members, stakeholders…as well as technical missions visiting from abroad.

Expendable equipment & materials [5yrs]

This is destined to support communities’ initiatives & provide them with the necessary expandable equipment & materials.

Non-expandable equipment (see details in annex 9) [5 yrs] Training & production of extension material

36 24 14 4 2 3 3 2 20

48

504,000 288,000 186,000 52,000 26,000 39,000 39,000 30,000 24,000

1,000,000

600,000

600,000

See annex 9 for details.

2,002,000

1,200,000

200,000

3,000,000

450,000

700,000

Total donor inputs for the Programme (without support costs) 7,552,000

35

Funding may be anticipated from traditional donors such as the Royal Government of the Netherlands. It may also be expected from the United Nations’ Organizations, particularly in connection with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Indeed, the UN is devoted to responding to a large number of Yemen’s development strategies. It is committed in particular towards implementing an integrated programme on local governance, including “supporting the smooth transfer of power to local institutions and communities and strengthening their management capacities”83. Integrating interventions on local governance would consist in reflecting on, and incorporating all initiatives such as the WM&SMD Programme, that correlate to local governance, and supporting them locally. The WM&SMD Programme being an authentic bottom-up, participatory endeavour, it should be considered as a “downstream” case of local governments and civil society groups undertaking concrete rural development interventions. As such, it should be able to earn the direct organizational, managerial and financial support of the UN system, as stated in the joint UN/Government UNDAF declaration paper61. In this perspective, the UN support to promoting capacity building would constitute a high priority area at the initial stage of the Programme. UNDAF is also highly committed to community empowerment, which is an essential target of the WM&SMD Programme. The latter could here also, make good use of a much needed material and financial support from the UN system. Moreover, in its strategic framework for support to decentralization, the UN system envisages to “organize training activities for a selected number of local councils and local governmental and non-governmental institutions”. It is therefore strongly recommended that some of the governorates targeted within the WM&SMD Programme, be selected to benefit from the above-mentioned training programme. Finally, UNDAF is intent on supporting pilot interventions in capacity development within selected governorates to improve capacities in “participatory planning at district and local levels”. It intends likewise to back up “the development of innovative rural development schemes, non-farm employment etc.” and to develop “information systems” and “establish monitoring and evaluation systems at district level”, all of, which are of major importance to the WM&SMD Programme. 11.3 Communities’ inputs: The communities’ contribution will in general be negotiated, taking into consideration the potential of various social groups as to their eventual financial participation. In general, the communities will be expected to provide the following inputs: P Required ordinary labour to establish sites and implement activities; P Required land to establish demonstration, experimentation etc. sites; P Local tools and materials (sand, stones etc.) available; P Local knowledge, experience and know-how; P Other facilities and premises for the implementation of activities; P Management and organization of the population etc. XII. RISKS AND ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION At this juncture, it is essential to comprehend that the WM&SMD Programme, which is complex in nature, and innovative in its approach towards decentralized participatory planning and implementation, may face a number of challenging factors and issues. Such factors could lead to, and/or cause minor or major delays in the execution of the Programme’s planned activities and/or in the achievement of its objectives. In order to minimize such risks, the experience gained and lessons learnt by comparable projects/programmes in the past are to be investigated and taken into consideration here. The WWPU’s

83 United Nations’ Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Yemen: A common UN response to Yemen’s Development challenges – April 2001. Prepared by a joint UN/Government of Yemen Steering Committee.

36

experience gained in the field of participatory planning and watershed management and the lessons learnt during its implementation could be indicative of some issues and challenges that would lead to potential risks. To be conscious and well prepared to face similar challenges as the WWPU, the Programme’s leadership, staff and other stakeholders should consider and be aware of the following: 1. An important challenge or risk is the move towards decentralised national execution with limited knowledge about processes and procedures. The Programme, as it is now, allows 2-3 years time for the establishment of administrative and financial systems and procedures. There is some concern about a possible tendency to move too fast towards achieving the long-term objective or goal of SWA as this may restrict the effectiveness of the Programme and lead to negative impressions about the SWA and Programme approaches; 2. Any kind of unacceptable interference in the Programme planning and implementation or management may lead to irreversible social, environmental and economical problems. Influential and active personalities (local leaders, people’s representatives, rich individuals etc.) should not interfere in, or influence the Programme, for the sake of their personal political, economic or social agenda, as this would create damaging bias; 3. The timely availability of local contributions in all governorates is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed and monitored closely and regularly. Delays in the providing counterpart funds may lead to community disenchantment and distrust and therefore jeopardise the Programme’s smooth implementation. 4. The assignment and recruitment of highly qualified and motivated staff at both local and central levels is crucial to the successful planning, implementation and management of the Programme. The staff selection criteria should be well established and adhered to; the recruitment conditions need to be attractive to maintain the best staff in position. The experience of the WWPU indicates that some of the qualified and trained staff moved to other projects/programmes. Direct engagement of experts should not be the only governing criterion. 5. The extent to which, the Programme is responsive to gender should not be dependent on the assignment of female specialists. Within the Programme there are no specific objectives that are more relevant to any of the community sects than the other. It should be based on the overall strategy, planning, implementation as well as management. While this true area and region specific understanding and socio-cultural issues still exist.

6. Sustainable mountain development is a cross-sector issue that needs broader understanding and a well-established cooperation mechanism. Professional bias should therefore be limited.

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ANNEXES

(WM & SMD PROGRAMME)

ANNEX 1

Proposals for a Programme training curriculum Proposals for a training programme will be defined at the start of the Programme, following the assessment of the gaps in knowledge and know-how and the needs in skills. Training would be designed for various levels and according to specific tasks and responsibilities assigned to different groups at each level. Given the present watershed and sustainable mountain development background, priority should be given to ensuring the basics and fundamentals of natural resources’ management within a watershed protection and mountain development context, through formal sets of courses and curricula. Before this is achieved, it is advisable not to plan study tours and visits, as these will be of little use, with the basics still lacking. 1. Suggestions for community training84: Training themes stem from the nature of the problems diagnosed and the interventions devised for their resolution. The aim of community training would be to:

R Facilitate implementation of interventions; R Contribute to reaching the objectives of the management plans; R Strengthen local capacity for self-development etc.

Notwithstanding the existing local traditional technological knowledge, there is still a need to enhance local capacities for self-development. Community training will be needed in two domains, namely: self-development approaches and technical themes. As regards self-development approaches the following topics will constitute the backbone of the training programme: Participatory approach: this theme will deal with participation, its objectives, approaches and process. The training will aim at demonstrating the advantages of participation and effective community participation in achieving sustainable self-development; Community associations, committees and coordination bodies management: This training module will aim at improving the organizational and managerial capabilities of local communities with regard to financing, maintenance funds etc. Micro-project formulation: This training aims at promoting communities’ ability to formulate their needs in the form of convincing bankable micro-projects easy to get to the donor community;

84Source: Omar Aboulabbes, FAO, GCP/YEM/026/NET – June 1999: “Watershed Management”.

38

Micro-project self-monitoring and evaluation: This training aims at improving the capacity of local communities for monitoring their interventions and activities and assessing the ensuing results and impacts. Monitoring and evaluation methods, criteria and indicators as well as organizational aspects of follow-up operations will be reviewed; With regard to the technical aspects, training will be related to the main interventions to be undertaken within the targeted Programme areas. Community training in this context focus on the existing traditional knowledge and make use of the important local expertise, particularly in the field of water-harvesting techniques. The following non-exhaustive list of training topics will be reviewed:

R Traditional and modern water-harvesting techniques: justification for a better choice; R Improved and efficient irrigation techniques; R Village/private micro-nursery construction and management; R Soil and water conservation techniques: torrent control, terracing, check-dam construction,

wadi training and wadi-bank protection etc. The training sessions would be concluded by field visits to technical and managerial models developed for specific interventions or micro-projects to be carefully identified as representative of the contexts and issues to be dealt with within the Programme 2. Topics for training at technical level: The following topics will be targeted for the training of field technicians:

R Communication techniques; R Extension techniques and approaches; R Land survey; R Aerial photo-interpretation and mapping; R Climatic, runoff and erosion data collection and analysis; R Range and forest vegetation assessment and measurements etc.

3. Proposed training profile for engineers85: Because the present capacity of the Watershed Management Directorate (GDFDC) is very limited, it is essential to aim at improving it. To this avail, the Programme would arrange for a set of training profiles for different levels, as follows: Master’s degree level: This training would require 2-3 years of schooling abroad and would concern the following three main profiles: i) watershed management; ii) forestry and forest management; and iii) range management. These profiles are, offered by many universities abroad. However, given the language requirements (French and English) of the most renowned, it is recommended to select education institutions offering these curricula in Arabic. Two such institutions already involved in training Yemeni students exist in Morocco. They are respectively: Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, and Ecole Nationale Forestière d’Ingénieurs Salé. Intermediate level 1: A number of intermediate (six months training for BS holders) profiles are recommended for candidates of varying backgrounds who would first undergo 3 months of training in watershed management abroad. After satisfying the requisites for this common module, the candidates would then benefit 3 additional months of in-country training in various following profiles:

R Water resources and irrigation; R Cartography; R Agriculture; R Socio-economics R Participatory approach (communication, extension, community organization etc.).

85 Source: Omar Aboulabbes, FAO, GCP/YEM/026/NET – June 1999: “Watershed Management”.

39

Intermediate level 2: This level would concern BS holders, who would undergo three months of in-country training, to improve their skills and knowledge in the following fields:

R Water resources and irrigation: These aspects are important to any watershed management exercise. The content of the irrigation module should concern small irrigation scheme practices that are specific to the upstream watershed areas;

R Agriculture: The impacts of agricultural practices on watershed conditions are very important and are important to assess in terms of environmental as well as socio-economic effects. The training would therefore deal with the different agricultural practises and their potential impacts on watershed and watershed functions. It will then handle the assessment of their effects;

R Participatory approaches: This module would deal with the communication, extension, community organization aspects etc. of the participatory approach. It would also relate to the present decentralization process underway in Yemen and analyse the potential role of participation in enhancing decentralization at local and regional levels;

R Socio-economics: __________

ANNEX 2

Developing statistical databases on land resources, on actual

land uses and functions and on socio-economic conditions Climatic databases: To improve the climatic database in mountain areas, it is necessary to multiply and/or develop the network of meteorological stations, particularly those measuring rainfall, temperature and relative humidity. Databases on soil and terrain conditions: These are developed, by carrying out standard soil surveys covering site and profile description, using global positioning technology to assess various forms of land and soil degradation. Water resources databases: Develop databases on water resources and their use, by means of relevant data of local meteorological stations, repeated measurements of stream flows, assessing groundwater reserves through borehole analysis and appreciating the amounts and types of actual uses being made of the water resources. Land cover and biodiversity databases: These are elaborated, by carrying periodic systematic inventories of all land cover types within the areas being and/or to be managed or developed. Databases on land uses, crop and production systems: These databases, which concern traditional as well as modern land uses and production systems are assessed on their inherent sustainability appreciated on the basis of a set of sustainability indicators. Fertility and land productivity indicators are essential in determining the sustainability of land use. Databases on social and related conditions: Databases, which identify the objectives, the resources and the constraints of each community or group of communities targeted by the development plans. Essential elements of social databases include information on current systems of land tenure and registration, land rights, land markets and forms of incentives and taxation in the area of consideration, as well as an assessment of their fairness and adequacy for sustainable development (Bruce, 1994). The database should also contain information on the aspirations and needs of the different groups of land users, the expected increase in local populations, the trends of inward/outward migration both

40

permanent and seasonal and of off-farm of off-region incomes and the availability of credit to farmers activities and other enterprises. Finally, rural health conditions should be assessed (Source: Planning For Sustainable Use of Land Resources: Towards an New Approach – FAO LAND AND WATER BULLETIN 2, 1995). Databases on economic aspects: They would include costs of inputs and current sale prices for outputs, degree of investment capacity and economic self-sufficiency of various groups as well as their respective levels of employment, income, revenues and investment capacity.

__________

ANNEX 3

Proposal for the formulation of Usla Master Plans, as part of the Programme preparation and implementation

1. Basic information and data needed: Base maps:

R Topographic maps; R Communication maps; R Settlements maps; R Administrative boundaries maps etc.

Climatic data: R Rainfall, humidity; R Temperatures, wind; R Length of growing season.

Land: R Soil types and land units; R Topography; R Land ownership records.

Water resources: R Surface water (wadis, springs, dams, lakes) R Underground water (wells, boreholes – extent, yield and quality of groundwater).

Land cover and land use: R Land cover; R Land uses; R Environmental requirements of cultivated crops versus actual environmental conditions.

Population: numbers and distribution: R Human population; R Livestock population; R Wildlife.

Social information: R Groups description and classification;

- Poverty - Resources - Constraints; - Employment - Conflicts - Migration;

- Gender issues - Health - Education; - Services - Isolation; R Wishes and needs expressed by land users, community, State

Economic data: R Importance of subsistence production in community livelihood; R Significance of cash production; R Production commercialisation (products sold, marketing opportunities; vending prices,

revenues, transport opportunities and costs etc.);

41

R Inputs for land use management (needs, deficits, costs etc.) Physical infrastructure:

R Markets (types, proximity, types of products commercialised etc.); R Road and tracks infrastructure (importance in terms of reducing the communities’ isolation); R Processing plants; R Nurseries etc.

Institutional and legal aspects: R Information on relevant institutions and their responsibilities; R Laws and regulations applying to relevant aspects of local land uses, conflicts etc.

Environment: R Vegetation types; R Vegetation cover; R Degradation processes and status

2. Methodology: Interactive land use planning, main steps to be followed: Identify stakeholders: Identify stakeholders and establish a negotiating platform and negotiating procedures. Stakeholders would include NGOs, their potential role in promoting human development and their capacity to mobilize donor funds for local investment. This has already been partially done for the direct users, through the rapid participatory diagnosis (RPD) exercises. It must be completed for the other categories of stakeholders, i.e.

R People directly affected by the exploitation of resources; R People having an interest in how the resource is being

used (State institutions, conservationists, NGOs etc.) Define needs, goals and objectives of stakeholders: Review conflicting goals and objectives of different stakeholders and identify possible compromises; Collect basic information and data: (see details above). Preliminary identification and screening of options: This has also partially been done in the course of the RPD operations. It needs to be further developed by involving user groups and multidisciplinary technical teams. The activities to be carried out are:

R Identification of technically possible changes in land uses, whose patterns provide substandard returns and/or damage particular aspects of the environment;

R Dismissal/elimination of land use options that are socially and/or politically unacceptable (drugs for instance).

Evaluate resources: this has also been partially done as part of the RPD exercises, but needs to be completed and refined to give a more accurate picture of the resources, their carrying capacity, state of overuse etc. The operation consists also in evaluating physical land suitability for pre-screened land use types. Appraise alternatives: Appraise alternatives in terms of possible environmental and social impacts. When feasible (existence of local expertise), carry out a financial and economic analysis. Select options: First with the direct users and then with stakeholders, through negotiation, compromise and decision making tools (workshops, etc.). Implement: Define the implementation tools and mechanisms and set up a schedule for execution. Monitor the plan: In watershed management and sustainable mountain development, a very robust monitoring and evaluation must be set up at two levels: i) at community level for self-monitoring and

42

evaluation; and ii) at the Programme’s level, to be able to bring in opportune modifications and corrective actions on a timely basis whenever deemed necessary. 3. Advantages of interactive land use management: P Maximizing stakeholders’ objectives through information, involvement and joint decision-making by all concerned; P Increased production due to the fact that in interactive land use planning, the main concern is placed on the removal of production constraints and the provision of incentives, when deemed necessary and feasible (incentive to be identified); P Maximum conservation as decision-making comes after informing stakeholders on the likely impacts of the range of possible use options identified, on the environment;

P Maximum use of resources, local enthusiasm, expertise, knowledge and know-how, through stakeholders’

empowerment. __________

ANNEX 4

Setting up a WM&SMD Programme Coordination Committee (PCC) The Programme Coordination Committee’s attributions would be, among others:

1. Setting-up national priorities and initiating relevant policy review and assisting in policy formulation; 2. Assisting in defining division of responsibilities between concerned ministry departments, authorities and other major stakeholders; 3. Arranging for efficient collaboration and cooperation between the concerned ministry departments, authorities and other major stakeholders (facilitator role); 4. Providing technical support to different directorates and institutions at central level (including training, technical packages development, research etc.); 5. Assisting in planning and in resources’ mobilization and allocation; 6. Assisting in appraising, reviewing and adjusting on a regular basis the programme’s components and interventions, particularly from the point of view of their adequacy with the existing capacities and resources; 7. Assisting in identifying the required research, investigations and training needs; 8. Monitoring the achievements of the Regional Technical Committee and assisting it in problem/constraint solving; 9. Reviewing progress reports, as well as technical and scientific studies, and advising the Steering Committee of any major recommendations that require urgent attention; 10. Monitoring and evaluating the organization, management and implementation of the programme and formulating adjustment proposals to the Steering Committee, when necessary;

43

11. Advising and assisting in defining new target areas for the programme and in planning for the additional and/or new participatory WM&SMD interventions; 12. Reporting to the Steering Committee and the General Directorate of Planning and Monitoring at the MAI. To be functional and effective, the PCC would be headed by a full-time designated officer and assisted by a full-time Technical Secretariat composed of:

R An integrated watershed management specialist; R A gender specialist; R A community participation specialist; R A monitoring and evaluation specialist.

The PCC should have the possibility to plan and recruit additional specialists under national and/or international consultancy contracts. The PCC would have its premises within the GDFDC or any other central premises of the MAI.

__________

ANNEX 5

Main tasks of the Governorate Technical Committee (GTC) The main tasks of the GTC would be of technical and scientific nature and consist in: Assessing the local human, material, financial and institutional capacities available for the WM&SMD programme execution, and proposing a time frame for strengthening each of them at the level required for smooth programme implementation; Organising and monitoring progress in resources’ mobilisation; Proposing all ingredients required for an adequate decentralized, participatory watershed management and sustainable development of upland areas and coordinating efforts for a smooth programme implementation; Supervising and assisting in the formulation of the Usla Community Master Plans; Taking into consideration the built-in human, material, financial and institutional capacities, proposing a planning schedule for preparatory phase interventions; Assisting in setting-up a Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at Governorate level; assisting in the formulation of its programme of activities; supervising its activities within the WM&SMD - Programme; reviewing and interpreting its results; and proposing timely solutions to the constraints identified in the course of the programme’s implementation; Reviewing and interpreting the programme’s interventions and summarizing and disseminating the results worth being replicated; Identifying with the concerned stakeholders and/or approving proposals for new interventions to be added to the official Usla Master Plans. Also, assisting in defining new target areas for the programme’s expansion and assisting local; communities, authorities and councils in planning for participatory WM&SMD interventions; Preparing progress and meeting reports to be transmitted to the relevant authorities, communities and to the National Programme Coordination Committee.

__________

ANNEX 6

Main problematic areas

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Mountain communities are among, the poorest in the world because of their specific mountain-related habitat, which includes among others, the following conditions: fragile ecosystems and limited land resources, marginal agricultural lands, remoteness, scant infrastructure etc. Food security is a real challenge, as it constitutes a major constraint in some mountainous areas of Yemen. Preliminary facts scrutinized, and information gathered during the field formulation process indicate that the main problematic areas to be targeted in watershed management and sustainable mountain development, may be summarized as follows: Land resources and agricultural systems issues: P Fragile ecosystems and vulnerable natural resources; P Poor productivity and sustainability of irrigated agriculture: P Expansion in groundwater mining and wastage due to the steady increase in irrigation based on groundwater; P Steady extension of qat cultivation as a major water user; P Deterioration of traditional rain-fed agriculture and livestock rearing production systems; P Degradation of valuable agricultural terraced land and of traditional water-harvesting systems; P Lack of sustainable land resources’ administration and supervision systems, including for woodland, agricultural land and rangeland management; P Lack of sustainable water productivity and of efficient water use measures; P General deterioration of watersheds resulting in increased runoff and erosion, silting and flood damages in downstream areas and reduced groundwater recharge; P General environmental degradation, including forest, woodland and rangeland deterioration, soil water and wind erosion and sand movement and encroachment; P Pressure on the biomass for fuel use; P Food insecurity resulting from: Low yields particularly in subsistence agriculture; limited cash-crop agriculture potential; significant and valuable post-harvest losses; higher prices for agricultural inputs (seed, fertilizers, pesticides, water, labour etc.); low milk and meat production as a result of poor animal nutrition, husbandry and health care etc. P Poverty resulting from insignificant farm incomes and revenues; Rural infrastructure problems: P Lack of clean drinking water; P Deteriorated roads, trails and serious problems of accessibility off the paved roads; P Scarcity of vehicles for transport of persons, animals and goods; P Inadequate and meagre means of communications; P Lack of services such as health, education, social services, etc. Inadequacy of income earning opportunities and off-farm alternatives: P Lack of community and private investment capacity and limited off-farm employment opportunities; P Shortage of market information and organization and limited access to marketing and trade; P Credit limitation and insufficient pooling funds to help the poor. Research and extension: P Lack of base information and of technical packages for enhanced crop production and natural resources sustainable management; P Inadequate extension services; P Inadequacy of research approach, intensity and quality; Capacity Building and Community’s Empowerment: P Lack of effectiveness in rural development and natural resources’ management due to inadequate institutional arrangements; P Deficiency in cross-sectoral cooperation and in inter-institutional collaboration; P Absence of cooperation between public and private sectors; P Gender issues;

45

P Lack of skilled specialists, particularly at decentralized level; P Lack of performance indicators measuring qualitative and quantitative performance; P Inadequate institutional and procedural framework to promote farmers’ associations and community institutions; P Lack of an operating fund to implement community development programmes, micro-projects and activities; P Absence of community-based financial systems.

__________

1

ANNEX 7 Yemen’s catchments and their main characteristics

Escarpment

Area(km2)

No: of years Observation

M.A. rainf. (mm)

Annual Runoff Mm3

Western

Eastern

Southern

South-eastern

Hadramawt Plain

Northern Tihama catchments Wadi Mawr Wadi Surdud Wadi Siham Wadi Rima Wadi Zabid Wadi Nakhah, Dumin etc. Wadi Raysan Wadi Mawza Total area Wadi Najran Al-Rub-Al-Khali catchment Wadi Al-Jawf Wadi Adanah Ramlat As-Sabatayn catchmentWadi Bayhan Wadi Markhah Wadi Hammam Wadi Nissab Total area South-western catchments Wadi Tuban Wadi Bana Wadi Hassan Wadi Rabwa Total area Wadi Ahwar Wadi Maifa’a Wadi Hajar Mukalla catchments Eastern catchments Total area Southern parts Northern parts Total area Grand total area (km2)

880081002700490027004700150020001500

36900 km2

4400841001400012600

91003600390018501800

135,350 km2

78006500800035001900

27700 km2

6400860093005000

5500084300 km2

150006000

21000 km2

305250 km2

20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

estimation

estimation estimation

9 estimation estimation

Estimation 7

15 estimation

15

15 estimation estimation

480 650 500 570 560 400 500 400 350

140 150 200 150 75

300

75

(5)

15129-23782-12173-13050-10386-164

545-6120-38

70----

15-3510-33

48.4-15

15-45

169305.8

70.980

20.3

51

Source: A. Maged Al-Hemiary – Yemeni experience in watershed management. 1999/

__________

2

ANNEX 8

Government inputs

The government’s inputs listed below include the contribution made by each of the governorates, local councils and agriculture and irrigation offices. Personnel (salary, allowances): YR 182,400,000 The contributions for counterparts listed below are estimated for each of the governorate as follows:

- Counterparts from AIO in 16x2 (32) governorates, 60 m/m each YR 20,000,000 A team of two officers at Uslah level will be assigned and their salaries plus other entitlements will be covered from this fund. They will receive salary supplements as well from the donor’s contribution. The teams will receive training that would allow them to takeover the function of officer after the Programme has ended.

- Technicians/assistants for governorate (16), 48 m/m each YR 1800,000 They are to assist communities in the establishment of different technical packages and or interventions.

- Liaison Officer for each Governorate, 8 x 48 m/m each (part-time) YR 1000,000 - Total Personnel per governorate YR 22,800,000 - Total personnel for the Programme YR 182,400,000

Labour force and casual contracts: YR 160,000,000 Each of the governorates (AIO and local council) will arrange for the provision of at least YR 4,000,000 each year (5 years x 4 million/year x 8 governorates = 160,000,000) for the casual labour needed for the fieldwork. This is to cover costs of labour required for construction works on wadis (Wadi protection, training etc.), irrigation canal construction, large scale tree planting, protection (guards) and others. It may also be used for the recruitment of skilled workers during the construction/rehabilitation of terraces, conservation of vegetation and irrigation of plants. Offices (including utilities, operation etc.): YR 8,000,000

The central MAI will provide sufficient office space for the co-ordination and central technical team. Local offices of MAI, local councils and governorate will also provide office space at governorate and both district and Uslah levels. Each of the AIO and local council will avail One million YR for the offices space rental (if not available) and as well for the utilities and communication i.e telephone, faxes, electricity, water and others including cleaning. Material and documents: YR 4,000,000 These are to be provided by each of the AIO, local councils and governorates. The share of each of the governorate offices (AIO and local councils) will be YR 500,000.

- Maps, documents and other local information YR 4,000,000 Compensation for lands: YR 100,000,000

3

Based on actual requirements, local councils and governorates will avail such funds as compensation for land, if needed. Customs clearance, taxes and storage: YR 8,000,000 For each governorate, the local authorities, the AIO and the local council will provide together about one million YR required for custom clearances, taxes, fees and storage for their equipment.

__________ ANNEX 9

Donor inputs

Technical assistance

Long Term International experts

- Senior Technical Adviser (STA), P-5, 24 + 12 m/m US $ 504,000

STA as resident advisor for the initial 24 months and visiting advisor for the other 12 months

- Gender and Community Development Expert, P-4, 24 m/m US $ 288,000 Associate Professional Officers (APO), in the fields of watershed management and mountain development, community participation, animal production/grazing lands management: 24 m/m each APO.

Short Term International consultants

- Watershed and Mountain Development, 4 m/m US $ 52,000 - Animal Production, 2 m/m US $ 26,000 - Mountain Development Policy Consultant, 3 m/m US $ 39,000 - Evaluation (mid-term and terminal evaluation), 2 m/m US $ 30,000

- Unspecified consultancies 3 m/m US $ 39,000

National consultants

- Various consultants, fields to be identified later, 20 m/m US $ 24,000 Including irrigation and water conservation, policies, credit and community institutions specialists and others. - Contracts (5 yrs) US $ 1,000,000

Contractual Services Agreement with the MAI and its branches at governorate level taking into account the technical services to be provided by local specialists and or agencies (professional expertise). This is to include a total of 29 national experts for central and governorate levels. Each governorate will be provided with 3 experts respectively in the following: community participation, gender, and land resources management. The central level will be provided with: one Programme Co-ordinator, one community participation specialist, one gender specialist, one monitoring and evaluation specialist and one land resources management specialist. These are to assist in the technical aspects of the different related fields (48 m/m each). Operating expenses and administrative support (5 yrs) US $ 1,200,000 - General operation and maintenance US $ 600,000

4

This concerns the general operating expenses for the operation and maintenance of the Programme’s equipment, including cost for transport of seedlings and other material. It also includes, communications, programme reporting obligations and the production of technical reports and printed material etc. - Administrative support US $ 600,000 This includes an administrative assistant for 24 m/m, temporary assistance, and salary supplements for all Programme staff Duty travel and missions (5yrs): US $ 200,000 This is to include Programme related in-country travel for project personnel, community members, and other stakeholders, as well as visiting technical missions travel from abroad. Expendable equipment and materials (5 yrs): US $ 3,000,000 This is a major contribution from the Donor to the Programme and for the implementation of the various usla’s Community Land Resources Management Master Plans. This input is meant to support the communities' initiatives and to provide them with the necessary expendable equipment and materials. Likewise, the procurement of expendable equipment and materials for the implementation of the various local master plans are to be made under this budget line. It includes construction materials, such as cement blocks, bricks, gabions, shade material, rocks etc. it also comprises nursery and irrigation systems’ equipment, seed and planting stocks, polythene bags and nursery supplies, bee keeping and animal production materials, equipment and stocks, and others. Fencing and seeds for rangeland rehabilitation are to be provided form such funds as well. Non-expendable equipment: US $ 450,000 This is to cover the following items:

- Vehicles : 16 vehicles x 14000 = US $ 224,000 Three vehicles for each of the Shabwah, Mahweet, Lahaj and Taiz (four new Governorates) as well as one vehicle for each of the WWWPU governorates, i.e. Aden, Sana'a, Dhamar and Hodeidah.

- Motorcycles: 16 x 1500 = US $ 24,000 Four for each of the new governorates

- Photocopiers : 14000 x 8 = US $ 112,000 Two photocopiers (One light duty for each of the Districts and one heavy duty for each of the governorates)

- Computer Sets: 10 x 1400 = US $ 14,000 Two for each of the New Governorates + one for N. Sana'a + one Programme Coordination.

- Extension Sets: 5000 x 4 = US $ 20,000 Including overheads and slide projectors, photo cameras, portable generators, screens and others.

- Film Production Set = US $ 40,000 Professional Video Camera and editing set.

- Office Furniture = US $ 16,000 Training and production of extension material: US $ 700,000 This is to include in-country and abroad short-term training and study tours for communities, local councils, co-operatives and government staff.

Total donor contribution (without support cost): US $ 7,552,000

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5

ANNEX 10

Detailed information on target area governorates

Eight governorates constitute at present the target areas. Within each one of them, two uslas belonging each to different districts constitute the actual target areas. Following is a brief presentation of each governorate.

Hodeidah Governorate: The governorate (muhafadah) of Hodeidah, occupies a surface area of 13,252 km2; it is located within the hot and dry Tihama Plain that lies alongside the Red Sea coast, west of the country. It is neighboured by the following governorates: Sana'a, Taiz, Haja and Mahaweet. Hodeidah comprises 22 districts and 136 Uslas. With 1.9 million residents and a mean annual population growth rate of 3.4 % Hodeidah is considered as densely populated. The average monthly expenditures/household amounts to YR 23,000 and 39.4% of the total population is considered poor. The literacy rate attains 63.2 %, while the attendance rate in basic education is around 46.4 %. The muhafadah benefits from essentials, of assistance to economic growth that are rooted in its specific characteristics. It indeed comprises mountainous areas dissected by several flood-prone wadis (Zabid, Rima’, Mawr and Siham) alongside, which farmers practice spate irrigation, thereby contributing substantially to the country’s food basked. It also stretches along the Red Sea coastal plain (Tihama), where modern irrigated agriculture has developed in the last decades. In all, more than 250,000 ha are under cultivation. They represent 17,000 holdings ranging from 0.5-10 ha. Rain-fed agriculture occupies large, unproductive marginal lands, where subsistence cereals are tentatively cultivated. The other agricultural production systems are highly productive. They occupy the best lands, benefit from either pump or spate irrigation and contribute approximately 40-50% of the country’s agricultural production. Animal production is an important economic activity. The livestock population includes some 348,728 sheep, 308,550 goats, 195,336 cattle and 17,399 camels that feed on tree and shrub fodder, forage crops and crop residues. Because of its location along the Red Sea coast, the governorate is exposed to strong winds; it is accordingly subjected to sand dune movement and heavy sandstorms that place valuable agricultural fields under substantial threat. The upper highlands are subject to severe water erosion and terrace degradation, due to overgrazing, soil exposure and terrain steepness. The muhfadah of Hodeidah belongs to two agro-climatic zones as defined by the agro-climatic inventory86. The purpose of agro-climatic zoning is to differentiate areas with similar sets of potentials and constraints for development, on the basis of combinations of, landform and climatic characteristics. The agro-climatic zones characterizing the Hodeidah territory are: Agro-climatic zone No 8: It consists of the high parts of the Tihama plain, where rainfall occurs mostly between August-October, and ranges from 200-500 mm/year. The mean daily relative humidity varies little throughout the year, ranging from 60% in the warm months, to 70% in the cold season. The mean annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) is equivalent to 1800-1900 mm. Vegetation growth is under the influence of two growing periods: The first one is short and irregular, while the second one last 70 days in average, between August and October;

86 Source: Agro-climatic resources of Yemen – Part 1: Agro-climatic inventory, by: HY Bruggeman FAO Database Management Expert. Dhamar 1997.

6

Agro-climatic zone No 9: It consists of the Tihama plain in the vicinity of Hodeidah and of the villages of Dabania (GCP/YEM/026/NET project site) and Al Khalifah (meteorological station site). Precipitation occurs mainly between July-December. Mean annual rainfall (MAR) ranges from 100-250 mm87. The mean relative humidity ranges between 60% in the warm months and 70% in the cool season. The first growing period is marginal, lasting about 20 days in May, while the second one last in average 50 days between August and October.

Taiz governorate: The muhafadah of Taiz is located in the Central Highlands, where it shares common borders with the governrates of Ibb, Lahej and Hodeidah. It is divided into 18 districts and 234 Uslas. Its total surface area size is10,00 km2 and its total population counts 2.3 million inhabitants, with a mean annual population growth rate of 3.2 %. Mean annual expenditures per household amount to YR 29,700. Poor families constitute 41.1 % of the population. The literacy rate is estimates at 50.9 %, while the attendance rate in basic education reaches about 73.2 %. In addition to the gravity of poverty, general social indicators on living conditions are very pessimistic a propos rural communities, especially with regard to rural women. Taiz is featured by its diversified and integrative economic activities among which agriculture occupies the first place, followed by industry, fisheries and tourism. The total cultivated land area is estimated at over 62,960 ha, of which more then 39,000 ha are rain-fed, while about 16,000 are irrigated with groundwater. Livestock production is significant to the local economy as it ranks second to crop production in terms of its share to the domestic agricultural product. According to recent estimates, the muhafadah counts 136,000 sheep, 208,000 goats, 163,634 cattle and 5672 camels. Fisheries and tourism owe much to the governorate’s shoreline (153 km) along the Red Sea and to its magnificent mountainous landscape that attract national as well as foreign tourists Water scarcity constitutes a severe challenge to development in the governorate. Recurrent drought periods not only cause serious domestic water shortages, they also negatively affect industry and agricultural crop production. Highly and densely populated, Taiz faces another major challenge in the form of ever-increasing demands and pressures exerted on its natural resource base. Woodland and rangeland degradation are widespread, owing to overgrazing and to excessive firewood extraction. With the rarefaction of wood sources in some areas, poor villagers unable to afford energy gas are compelled to use animal dung for domestic energy, which has also a significant environmental cost. The governorate of Taiz belongs to the following two agro-climatic zones: Agro-climatic zone No 3: It consists of a 12, 400 km2 zone located in the Central Highlands and stretching from south of Taiz unto north of Hajja, including the Mahweet area. This region has two distinct rainy seasons (March-April and July-September) separated by a relatively dry interval from mid-May to mid-July. Mean annual rainfall ranges between 400-700 mm. The mean annual PET for Mahweet varies from 1625-1825 mm. There are two distinct growing periods (GP). The first one (March-June) ranges from 60-80 days, while the second (July-September) lasts about 50 days. Terracing, which is widespread in the region increases reliability and length of the GP. It is extended in this zone by 30-40 days for a “terrace factor” of one88. The relative humidity varies from 50% in the dry months of May-June to around 70% in the wet months; Agro-climatic zone No 4: This zone is located in the southern part of the Central Highlands, around Taiz. The representative agro-climatic and meteorological stations are those of Taiz, Warazan and Dhala’a. The mean annual rainfall ranges from 300-600 mm. It is distributed in two seasons, during the first of which, 30-45% of precipitation occurs from April through June. The average PET is

87 During exceptional years, rainfall may exceed 400 mm. 88 One speaks of terrace factor one when runoff water collected on the terraced field equals the mean annual rainfall. Terrace factor is equal to 2, when the runoff water collected on a terraced field is double the rainfall amount.

7

estimated at 1,600 mm for Taiz. There are two moderately reliable GPs, the first of which lasts about 80 days, from April to July. The second and most reliable GP lasts 70 days from August to November. With a terrace factor of 2, the first GP becomes reliable and lasts at least 100 days, while the second GP lasts between 100-120 days. Relative humidity is highest (50-65%) from March to May and lowest (35-50%) from December to February.

Lahej Governorate: The muhafadah of Lahej is surrounded by the governorates of Taiz, Aden, Abyan, Dhala’a and El-Beida. It oversees the Gulf of Aden and the southern entrance of the Red Sea. It has a total area of 12,647 km2 and comprises 14 districts and 40 Uslas. Lahej is not heavily populated as its total population equals 650, 000 inhabitants only, with an annual population growth rate of 2.3 %. The average monthly expenditures per household add up to YR 34,300, while poor families amount to 30.2 % of the total population. Rural households tend to stay outside the monetary sector and the mainstream of economic development. Poverty prevalence is therefore greater in rural areas. The literacy rate is 51.6 % while the attendance in basic education is about 70 %. Lahej depends mainly on the agriculture and fisheries sectors as its main economic forces and employment providers. The agricultural area is estimated at some 13, 518 ha, a little less than half of which is rain-fed and spate-irrigated. Slightly over half of the cultivated area is irrigated with underground water. The northern part of the Muhafadah is endowed with very fertile land and sufficient water reserves, enabling an unusually diverse range of agricultural production. Cereals, vegetables and fruits are some of the cultivated crops. Animal production is also an important activity in Lahej. The animal population comprises 310,018 sheep, 391,702 goats, 70,139 cattle and 10,215 camels. Apiculture constitutes a substantial economic activity as more than 16,913 beehives are recorded in the Muhafadah. The extended coastal line, which ranges from Amran in The Gulf of Aden to Bab El Mandab at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, offers great opportunities for substantial fishery production. The governorate of Lahej belongs to the agro-climatic zone No: 10, which is subdivided in several sub-zones of which the following two are, covered by the WM&SMD Programme. In sub-zone 10a the mean annual rainfall ranges from 175-400 mm and exceeds 600 mm in some years (Mussaimer meteorological station). In sub-zone 10c, the mean annual rainfall ranges from 100-250 mm with some years exceeding 350 mm (Habilin meteorological station). The mean annual PET in both sub-zones ranges between 1,800 - 1,900 mm. Two growing periods (GP) are recorded for sub-zone 10a (Mussaimer). The first one is highly unreliable and lasts in average 20-40 days. The second GP is more reliable and persists for 90 days from July –October. Sub-zone 10c (Habilin) counts two GPs, the first one of which seldom develops. The second GP reaches about 90 days, but remains unreliable as it develops one year out of two. Because of the limited mean annual rainfall, water harvesting has little impact on the length of the GP in both sub-zones. With a terrace factor of 1, both GPs are extended by a maximum of 10 days each. The relative humidity varies little over the year, ranging between 45-60%.

Aden governorate: Aden is the main port and at the same time, the economic and commercial capital of Yemen. It has recently founded the first Free Zone Area of the country. It is surrounded by the governorates of Lahej and Abyan and consists of 8 districts, whose total area is equal to 755 km2. The population of Aden’s governorate displays an annual growth rate of 3.4% and amounts to 504,000 inhabitants. The mean monthly expenditures/household is, equal to YR 40,300, while the poor constitute 32 % of the population. The literacy rate is 24.2 % while the average attendance in basic education reaches 83 %. The governorate of Aden is considered as a model for integrated and diversified economic activities including agriculture, industry, fishery, commercial tourism and service areas. Agricultural activities are significant despite the limited size of cultivated land (about 4,641 ha), more than 50% of which is under irrigated fodder production. The size of holdings ranges between 0.50-1.00 ha. The main crops

8

are sesame, corn, vegetables, fruits and fodder. Livestock production is significant. The animal population counts89 38,000 sheep, 229,000 goats, 3,000 cattle and 1,813 camels distributed between approximately 4.500 owners. The climate of the governorate of Aden is hyper-arid, which explains that wind erosion is causing sand dune movement and encroachment on irrigated agricultural fields. Simultaneously, the excessive pumping of water from the shallow coastal water table results in saline water intrusion, which limits the utilization of this water for domestic or irrigation purposes.

Dahmar governorate: The muhafadah of Dhamar lies in the western part of the Inter-Montane Plain, which rises to altitudes ranging between 2100-2600m. Its population estimated at 1.3 million is distributed in 11 districts and 310 Uslas. About a third of the governorate’s territory consists of fertile basins and plains, while an estimated 55% of the area is occupied by degraded rangeland. Cold winters and heavy spring/summer rainfall permit wheat, vegetables and fruit farming. Third largest Governorate by cultivated area, Dhamar counts about 133,000 ha of agricultural land of, which some 87,000 ha are under permanent cultivation. Given the large number of landlords (22,000), the average size of holdings is small, ranging between 0.5 - 1.0 ha. Major producer of staple food crops, potatoes, vegetables and some fruit, Dhamar is also a main qat growing area in Yemen. Traditional land resources management systems are still active in Dhamar and grazing rights on private and collective land are well organized and fully practiced. However, increased pressure resulting from population growth, has led to the degradation of land resources. Crop and livestock production are the main sources of livelihood for rural population. “The dramatic increase in irrigated crop production and hence in the availability of crop residues, has had a marked effect on the local sheep husbandry. It can be said that in general the dependence of sheep production on the rangelands is decreasing”90. Intensive agriculture in the Montane Plains relies on deep-well pumped-irrigation to produce sorghum, wheat, barley (most dominating crops) followed by qat, potatoes and fodder. Rain-fed agriculture is primarily for subsistence crop production. Livestock is a significant part of the farming systems. It plays an important role in the livelihood of the rural residents, particularly women who are exclusively in charge of animal breeding. The animal population of the governorate is estimated to add up to 363,316 sheep, 133,143 goats, 142,616 cattle and 5,306 camels. The muhafadah counts also 10,200 beehives. Dhamar belongs to the agro-climatic zone No: 6, which is located in the western part of the Inter-Montane Plain, stretching from south Dhamar to northwest Sana’a. While precipitations may reach 500 mm some years, MAR ranges from 200-400 mm. In Dhamar, 50% of the rain occurs between April and June. The mean annual PET amounts to about 1,500 mm. Relative humidity is lowest during the hot dry months of May/June (25-40%), average during the cold and dry season (40-50%) and highest in July/August (50-65%). Two GP characterize this agro-climatic zone. The first one (April-June) lasts 60 days; the second (July-September) stretches 40 days. Water harvesting has some influence on the GPs. For a terrace factor equal to 1, both GPs are extended by 20-30 days each. In the Dhamar region, this would result in a first GP of 90 days and a second one of 60 days.

Shabwa governrate:

Located at the centre of the southern and eastern governorates, the muhafadah of Shabwa occupies a central position within the ROY. It shares common borders with Saudi Arabia and the governorates of Ma’arib, Hadramawt and Abyan. With a surface area of 60,900 km2, Shabwa is the second governorate size-wise. Its population credited of an annual growth rate of 3.4% counts 455,000 souls distributed within 17 districts and 23 Uslas. The average monthly expenditures per family add up to 89 According to a 1995 survey. 90 The role of natural vegetation in household fuel needs in the Dhamar Montane Plains, by Paul T. Scholte & Chrisje M.E. van Schoot, July 1989.

9

an estimated YR 48,100. Poor people represent 34.8 % of the total population. As elsewhere in Yemen, the most vulnerable among the poor are women, especially widows and females heading households, the landless and casual labourers, and the tenants and sharecroppers. The overall literacy rate is among the highest of the country, being equal to 53.9 %. Agriculture is a major economic activity. The agricultural area has steadily increased following the return of immigrants from the Gulf States; it totals presently 13.692 ha. Owing to the aridity of the climate, most agricultural production systems rely either on spate or pumped irrigation. Some 3,325 ha of land are exclusively devoted to fodder production, while an estimated 5,781 ha are used to grow various other crops. Livestock husbandry is important to the local economy. The animal population is composed of 2,375,616 sheep (?), 284,667 goats, 2,156 cattle and 13,378 camels. Apiculture is one of the most renowned agricultural activities of the Shabwa governorate. Honey produced from its 8,233 beehives enjoys a high reputation and is much appreciated over the whole country for the excellence of its quality. Shabwa belongs to agro-climatic zone No: 11, which covers the eastern part of the country. Nuqub (1,050 m) and Beihan (1,150 m) are the representative agro-meteorological stations. They are both situated within the Shabwa governorate. MAR in this zone ranges between 50-125 mm, with 80% of the precipitations occurring between January and June. The relative humidity remains low in this arid region, averaging 40-50% during the cool season and 20-35% during the hot season. The average yearly PET is about 1,650-1,800 mm. There is no distinct growing period.

Sana'a governorate: In addition to its historical significance as the capital of Yemen, Sana'a is considered to be one of the largest governorates of the country in terms of size (approximately 13,851 km2). It is divided into 19 districts and 239 Uslas. Thanks to its particular geographical position, Sana’a shares common borders with a large number of governorates, namely: Hajjah, Saada, Mahweet, Ma’arib, Dhamar, Hodeidah and Amran. The population credited with an annual growth rate of 3.5 %, counts 1.4 million inhabitants. In average, the monthly expenditures per family are about YR 43.740, while the percentage of poor families in the Governorate equals 28.4 % from the total population. The literacy rate is about 63.9 % and the average attendance in basic education is about 49.5 %. Agriculture and livestock rearing constitute important economic activities in the governorate of Sana’a. The total cultivated land area was estimated at 214,062 ha in 1999 (DAS of MAI, 1999), representing 19% of the total area cropped in Yemen. The number of holdings was 168,707, while the average surface area per property was 1,27 ha. Rain-fed agriculture concerned 138,578 ha. It constitutes the most important type of cultivation as it amounts to 64.5% of the total area cropped. It is followed, in decreasing order of importance by: well-irrigated cultivation, spring-irrigated agriculture and spate irrigation, which concern respectively 31.86%, 1.77% and 1.63% of the total area cultivated91. About 24,000 ha are cultivated for fodder production, while 39,000 ha concern qat farming. Sorghum, coffee, grapes and qat are, the most important sources of income for the rural population. The animal population is one of the highest in the country. Recent statistics indicate the existence of 998,000 sheep, 493,000 goats, 213,000 cattle and 5700 camels. In addition, honey production is quoted as being flourishing, with 7200 beehives in production. The excessive pressure exerted by the animal population on available grazing lands constitutes an immediate threat to this resource base within this governorate, which is already plagued with a gigantic water crisis. Sana’a belongs to agro-climatic zone No: 6 already described for the governorate of Dhamar.

Mahweet governrate:

91 Source: DAS of MAI, 1999.

10

Located in the western part of Yemen, the muhafadah of Mahweet shares common borders with the governorates of Sana'a, Hodeidah, Hajjah, and Amran. Its total area of 2,332 km2 accommodates 8 districts, 114 Uslas and 452,000 residents. The annual population growth rate is estimated at 3%. The average monthly expenditures per family is about YR 32,200 while the proportion of the poor amounts to 28.8 % of the population. The literacy rate is the highest in the country (about 65%) while the rate of attendance in basic education amount to 56.4%. Agriculture is the main source of income in Mahweet. The total area cultivated is estimated at about 26,610 ha. It includes a substantial proportion of terraced rain-fed agricultural land. About 21.475 ha are cultivated for the production of various crops (cereals, vegetables, fruit, coffee etc.), while 6,981 ha are engaged for fodder cultivation. Livestock production is an important contributing factor to food security. The animal population includes 38,617 sheep, 28,967 goats, 40,178 cattle and 816 camels. Honey production is an important economic activity that counts about 9,916 beehives. The governorate of Mahweet belongs to the agro-climatic zone No: 3, already described for the muhafadah of Taiz.

__________

ANNEX 11

Watershed management policy statements and action plans

The document exists at WWPU level. It should be transferred to this annex.