Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen, has been under siege physically, economically, and ecologically since war began in September 2014. Its water, land, and fragile ecosystems are breaking under the pressure, wrote Samar Azazi in theecologist.org
Azazi, a Yemeni scholar specializing in women, gender, development, and postcolonial studies in the Middle East, added “Terraces that once formed green geometric patterns along the mountain slopes now crumble or lie abandoned. The land mirrors the people: exhausted, waiting for relief that rarely comes”.
In 1986, UNESCO inscribed the Old City of Sana’a on the World Heritage List, calling it “an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement… that has preserved its appearance and character for more than 2,500 years.”
Even before the war, Sana’a was considered one of the most water-stressed cities on Earth. However, the conflict has escalated a crisis into a catastrophe.
Groundwater levels in Sana’a Basin were dropping at an unprecedented rate of six to eight meters per year. In the Sana’a Basin and surrounding highlands, vegetation cover has decreased by an estimated 30 per cent in recent years, driven by soil erosion, urban expansion, and reduced water availability, placing additional pressure on already vulnerable native flora critical for food security, traditional medicine, and ecosystem stability.
Prolonged blockade and unrelenting conflict have turned an already fragile environment into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe, strangling the very systems that keep people alive.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), environmental infrastructure in Sana’a and elsewhere teeters on the brink of total collapse, crippled by restrictions that block the import of spare parts for water systems, chemicals essential for purification, fuel to run municipal pumps, and even basic tools for environmental monitoring.
As a result, mountains of uncollected garbage rot in the streets, raw sewage floods neighborhoods, and polluted water seeps into underground aquifers, poisoning the limited sources Yemenis still have.
Yet, Sana'a - the "impregnable fortress" - remains standing tall, as if to say, 'I am wounded, but I will not be broken'.
The people of Sana'a have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to rebuild using local materials and traditional knowledge. With targeted international support that respects these traditions instead of replacing them, the City of a Thousand Minarets can rise again.