environment

Analysis March 2, 2023 19:29 MIN Bridging the Divide: Mitigating the Impacts of the CBY Schism on Yemen’s Banking Sector By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi The September 2016 rupture of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) into rival branches associated with the main warring parties has severely undermined the country’s banking sector. The most fundamental issues affecting Yemeni banks are the differing currency systems that have emerged between areas controlled by the internationally recognized government and Houthi authorities, and the associated competing centers of financial sector regulation, which have adopted increasingly coercive measures in their attempts to assert exclusive authority. The banking sector liquidity crisis, which emerged prior to the central bank schism, has only been compounded and complicated since. This policy brief was produced as part of the Yemen International Forum (YIF) 2022 and will offer an overview of the evolving challenges facing the… Continue reading The Yemen Review March 3, 2022 279:55 MIN The Graveyard of Hubris – Yemen Annual Review 2021 Through most of 2021, the armed Houthi movement appeared unstoppable. As their forces pushed relentlessly toward Marib city, the fall of the last government stronghold in the north began to seem inevitable. Rich in oil and gas, its loss would be a mortal blow to the spiraling economy and political legitimacy of the internationally recognized government. Along frontlines across the country, Houthi forces either held their ground or advanced, showing a cohesiveness, discipline and effectiveness unmatched by the motley array of armed groups opposing them. Houthi drones and ballistic missiles flew across the border into Saudi Arabia, and continued even in the face of retaliatory airstrikes, heightening the cost of conflict for the coalition. Houthi military efforts were buttressed by… Continue reading Main Publications September 6, 2021 17:28 MIN Local Economic Councils: A Tool to Improve Business Productivity in Yemen Even before the events of 2014 and 2015 that led Yemen into the ongoing civil war, its economy was fragile. The years of hardship that have haunted the country ever since have been devastating. Yemen is now rated as one of the hardest places in the world for businesses to operate and is last or near last in a host of global business competitiveness indexes. From January 25-27,2021 the seventh Development Champions Forum, held virtually, focused on this dire national situation. To help address local economic challenges, the Development Champions discussed the possibility of establishing Local Economic Councils. According to their analysis, between the existing community-level local development committees (which guide targeted, small scale infrastructure investment from development funds such… Continue reading The Yemen Review July 14, 2021 94:51 MIN Eye on the East – The Yemen Review, June 2021 Through periods of tolerance and persecution, marginalization has remained a constant in the treatment of racial and religious minorities in Yemeni society. During the ongoing conflict, however, violence and subjugation against these marginalized groups has increased dramatically, to the point that it is fundamentally reshaping Yemeni society. For Yemen as we know it to continue to exist it needs to assure the existence of its minorities, as something fundamental to the makeup of a nation dies when its minorities perish. Yemen’s Jewish community, with a history tracing back millennia, played a foundational role in developing Yemeni culture and commerce, and creating much of the artisanal industries for which the country is known. While the community had already been dwindling in… Continue reading Analysis December 14, 2020 56:44 MIN Oil Extraction Industries’ Impacts on Health, Livelihoods and the Environment in Hadramawt By Yasmeen al-Eryani This policy brief on the environmental impact of the oil extraction industries in Hadramawt explores what seems to be a well-known secret among residents living near oilfield concession blocks and people from the industry: that oil exploration and production activities in the governorate may be deviating from sound environmental standards and could be posing a serious risk to the environment and public health. When it comes to environmental and health impacts, there are no definitive studies that document and analyze incidents of pollution due to error or negligence in oil exploration and production activities beyond occasional unpublished environmental impact assessments (EIAs) retained by the Ministry of Oil and Minerals or the oil companies. Combined with the lack of open government… Continue reading Main Publications August 5, 2019 17:41 MIN Transitional Government in Post-Conflict Yemen By Osamah Al Rawhani, Anthony Biswell, and Rafat Al-Akhali This policy brief offers recommendations to maximize the effectiveness of governance in post-conflict Yemen – whatever the composition or structure of the government. It presents three case studies on government models previously introduced in Yemen, Tunisia and Lebanon after periods of instability. These case studies offer useful lessons on the challenges, risks and opportunities of forming transitional governments in post-conflict contexts. The two most apparent options for the composition of an immediate post-conflict government to lead a transitional period in Yemen are a consensus government with cabinet seats divided among the key Yemeni political factions, or a technocratic caretaker government appointed by a consensus prime minister. The case studies in Yemen and Lebanon illustrate that while power sharing agreements can… Continue reading Main Publications July 29, 2018 22:35 MIN Challenges for Yemen’s Local Governance amid Conflict By Maged Al-Madhaji, and Anthony Biswell Local councils are among Yemen’s most important state institutions. Responsible for providing basic public services to millions of Yemenis, local councils represent official governance and the Yemeni state for much of the population. The intensification of the conflict between the internationally recognized government, its regional backers and the Houthi group since March 2015, however, has heavily impacted funding and security for local councils, undermining their ability to provide services effectively in most areas of the country. In many areas, this absence of effective official governance has created fertile ground for non-state actors to exert their influence. In the areas under Houthi control, Houthi supporters closely monitor local council activity. In the southern coastal city of Aden, local councils are caught… Continue reading