Introduction - The World Bank Documents

Document of
The World Bank Report No.: 31779-YEM
Republic of Yemen Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy
March 3, 2005 Water, Environment, Social and Rural Development Department Middle East and North Africa Region
|This report is for restricted distribution. Recipients may use it |
|only in the performance of their official duties. Its content may |
|not be released without authorization of the World Bank. |
CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(As of March 1, 2005) Currency Unit: Yemeni Rials (YRl)
Exchange Rate: US$1 = 183 YRl
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
|AAA |Analytical and Advisory Services |
|AFPPF |Agriculture and Fisheries Production Promotion |
| |Fund |
|APL |Adjustable Program Lending |
|A21A |Agenda 21 Program for Agriculture |
|CAS |Country Assistance Strategy |
|CWRAS |Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy |
|ESW |Economic Sector Work |
|GARWSP |General Authority for Rural Water and |
| |Sanitation Projects |
|GOY |Government of Yemen |
|GSCP |Groundwater and Soil Conservation Project |
|IIP |Integrated Irrigation Improvement Project |
|JSDF |Japan Social Development Fund |
|MAI |Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation |
|MDGs |Millennium Development Goals |
|MENA |Middle East and North Africa |
|MWE |Ministry of Water and Environment |
|NWRA |National Water Resources Authority |
|NWSA |National Water and Sanitation Authority |
|NWSSIP |National Water Sector Strategy Investment |
| |Program |
|OED |Operations Evaluation Department (World Bank) |
|PRSP |Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper |
|RWSS |Rural Water Supply and Sanitation |
|SFD |Social Fund for Development |
|SWAp |Sector Wide Approach |
|UWSS |Urban Water Supply and Sanitation |
|YRL |Yemeni Riyals |
|Vice President : Christiaan J. Poortman |
|Country Director : Emmanuel Mbi |
|Country Manager : Mustapha Rouis |
|Sector Director : Inger Andersen |
|Sector Manager : Vijay Jagannathan |
|Task Manager : Maher Abu-Taleb | REPUBLIC OF YEMEN COUNTRY WATER RESOURCES ASSISTANCE STRATEGY
Table of Contents Chapter Page No. |Acknowledgements | |
| | |
|Overview and Executive Summary |i-ix|
| | |
|1. Introduction and Context |1 |
| | |
|2. Yemen's Water Sector: Problems, Goals, and Strategies |4 |
| A. Sector Context |4 |
| B. A Decade of Reform |11 |
| | |
|3. Key Water Challenges in Yemen Today |20 |
| A. Five Key Challenges |20 |
| B. Impact of Scenarios on the Economy and the Population |35 |
| | |
|4. Yemen's Strategic Response to Water Crisis: The National| |
|Water |38 |
|Sector Strategy Investment Program (NWSSIP) | |
| | |
|5. The Bank and Yemen's Water Sector |49 |
| A. Bank Involvement and Lessons Learned |49 |
| B. Water and the CAS |57 |
| C. Impact of Bank Interventions on Poverty Reduction |58 |
| D. Changing Attitudes to Water: the Political Economy of |61 |
|Reform | |
| | |
|6. The Proposed Bank Program |64 |
| A. Principles for Bank Intervention |64 |
| B. Areas of Bank Intervention: What Will the Bank Now Do |66 |
|Differently? | |
| C. Factors and Risks Affecting Success |71 |
| | |
| | |
|Annexes: | | Annex 1: General Terms of Reference for a CWRAS 76
Annex 2: On-going Bank projects in Yemen 77
List of Tables Table 1: Diesel Fuel Prices in Yemen 9
Table 2: Summary of Water Sector Reforms Proposed in 1997 13
Table 3: Major Donor Support to the Water Sector in Yemen 15
Table 4: Which Ongoing Reforms Merit Further Emphasis? 20
Table 5: Checklist of What Could Be Done to Reduce Yemen's
Groundwater Overdraft 25
Table 6: Urban, Rural and Total Water Supply and Sanitation Coverage
27
Table 7: Reaching the UWSS MDGs 28
Table 8: Summary of Financial and Operational Status of Selected LCs
29
Table 9: Reaching the RWSS MDGs 30
Table 10: The Impact of Sample Reform Scenarios on the Economy
and on the Population 37
Table 11: NWSSIP Investment Program 43
Table 12: How Does NWSSIP Improve Yemen's Policies for Water? 47
Table 13: Performance Against the Recommendations to the Bank of the 1997
Strategy 53
Table 14: The CAS Program and Water 57
Table 15: Water Sector Stakeholders - Their Interests and Attitude to
Reform 62
Table 16: Ongoing Bank's Water Sector Projects and Ratings 65
Table 17: Yemen CWRAS: The Proposed Bank Program, 2006-2015 72
Table 18: Summary of Proposed Water Sector ESW and Lending in the
Medium and Long Terms 75 List of Figures Figure 1: Water Availability Comparisons in Middle East/North Africa
(MNA) Region 4
Figure 2: Municipal Water Demand in 2000 5
Figure 3: Historical and Planned Irrigation Water Diversions in Yemen 6
Figure 4: Organization Structure of MWE 9
Figure 5: Typical Groundwater Overdraft Scenarios 23
Figure 6: Distribution of Total Public Expenditures in the Water Sector,
2000-2004 55 List of Boxes Box 1: What is a CWRAS? 2
Box 2: Public and Private Supply in Ta'iz 7
Box 3: Women, Children and Water 7
Box 4: Sharia and 'urf : Formal Law and Local Custom on Water
Rights 8
Box 5: Qat and Water 10
Box 6: The 1997 Report Yemen: Towards A Water Strategy 12
Box 7: Farmers Reacting to Higher Diesel Prices 14
Box 8: Threatened Aquifers...and Dwindling Water Supplies 21
Box 9: International Experience with Groundwater Governance
24
Box 10: Yemen Community Water Management Project 26
Box 11: UWSS Reform Principles 28
Box 12: RWSS Existing Programs 32
Box 13: International Best Practice in Sustainable Watershed
Management Projects 33
Box 14: What's New in the NWSSIP Approach and Process 39
Box 15: Measures Proposed in NWSSIP on Groundwater 41
Box 16: The Strengths of the NWSSIP Proposals 45
Box 17: The Dublin Principles 46
Box 18: Ta'iz Project A "Learning Experience" Rather Than A
Success 50
Box 19: The Long Term Nature of Bank Commitments in the Water
Sector 56
Box 20: Yemen's Four Major Poverty Challenges 58
Box 21: Proposal for a Groundwater Network 69
Acknowledgements
This strategy report was prepared by a joint team of Bank staff and
consultants. The report team was led by Maher F. Abu-Taleb (Task Team
Leader, MNSRE) and included Alexander Bakalian (MNSIF), Naji Abu-Hatim
(MNSRE), Ahmed Shawky (MNSRE), Christopher Ward (Consultant) and Jean-
Francois Barres (Consultant).
The following individuals contributed directly or through discussions with
the Task Team: Vijay Jagannathan, Jamal Saghir, Claudia Sadoff, Vahid Alavian, Jose Simas,
Aloysius Ordu, Amir Al-Khafaji, Habib Fetini, Tray Sinha, Marie-Laure
Lajaunie, Francoise Clottes, Tim Kennedy, Mohammad Bazza (FAO), Rory
O'Sullivan and a team of facilitators from Yemen. The local facilitators,
listed below, led five working groups bringing together sector
professionals, parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, and
donors :
|Matthias Leibrand|Rural Water Supply and Sanitation|
|Khalid Al-Hariri |Environmental Issues |
|Abdul Wahed |Agriculture and Irrigation |
|Mukred | |
|Abdullah Noman |Urban Water Supply and Sanitation|
|Khalid Riaz |Water Policy