The plains and fields of Yemen are filled with dangerous plastic waste Environmental Issues

Wadi Dawan, Yemen From above, Wadi Dawan they look untouched – a ribbon of palm trees running through tall rocks, divided by a white bed. Scattered brick houses cling to the rocky hills, overlooking one of Yemen’s most famous agricultural valleys, known for its date palms and excellent honey.

But if we go further into the valley, a very different picture emerges: plastic waste is polluting the flood canals, while the smell of burning waste hangs in the air, causing coughing and polluting the sanitary conditions of the valley.

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“By God, this is a big problem,” said Yousef Abdullah, a 65-year-old farmer and orchard owner, speaking angrily to Al Jazeera. “If it remains unresolved, it will bring disaster.”

Yousef stood under the shade of a palm tree, surrounded by a blanket of plastic bags, bottles, and food wrappers.

Across the Wadi Dawan area, home to thousands of people in many scattered villages in Yemen’s eastern province of Hadramout, plastic bags, bottles, and other household waste line roadsides and palm trees.

Piles of garbage – including dead animals – are dumped into the flood canals that irrigate the fields in the valley. Garbage on the house is scattered with rainwater on the walls, now rainwater is rainwater on people’s houses.

Yousef said the floodwaters that flow through the valley carry the waste, block irrigation canals, and rob some farms of needed water. This has forced farmers to rush to the canals at every turn flooding reach, remove the accumulated debris before the water dies.

“We go from one irrigation system to another to our fields, to remove plastic bags, construction debris, and trees,” Yousef said. “We have to do this carefully because the broken glass hidden in the debris can easily cut us.”

Then, after the flood waters recede, Yousef and other farmers go back to their fields and collect plastic bottles and bags before sowing their crops.

Harmful awareness campaign

Residents, environmentalists, and local authorities say the problem is exacerbated by the lack of proper waste collection systems and people’s ignorance of the environmental and health risks of indiscriminate waste disposal.

Large parts of the valley have no garbage collection facilities at all. In places where they do, green waste can be seen on the side of the road, but it usually overflows. Garbage trucks are supposed to collect garbage from the depot once a week, but the work is often hampered by lack of funds and poor maintenance of the vehicles.

With no money or resources, Salem Raji, who heads the Ministry of Agriculture’s Wadi Dawan office and is an agricultural researcher, launched a project to investigate the growing problem of waste disposal in his home valley. They met with local officials, spoke to local media and used social media to warn people about the environmental dangers of dumping waste in the valley.

“Agriculture is particularly affected by plastic waste, which pollutes the soil and leads to poor or failed crops,” Raji said. Garbage causes many problems in the main irrigation canals, blocking the flow of water, damaging the walls of the canals and preventing flood water from reaching the fields.

The crisis has worsened over the past decade as has Yemen to face the war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed government, recognized around the world. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and destroyed public institutions, leaving local governments, including municipalities and agricultural offices, without the money or power to provide essential services.

“The problem has worsened in recent years due to the war, which has led to instability in the administration and lack of funds for the government,” Raji said.

Raji looks frustrated that his efforts have not borne fruit and his warnings have fallen on deaf ears, people continue to dump garbage in the valley. He called for an increase in the monthly budget of his office, currently 8,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $5, so that workers can visit the fields, reach more people, and help remove waste from farms and flood roads.

Despite Raji’s best efforts, he was unsuccessful in his efforts to raise public awareness of the issue. “Our office’s (low) budget makes it impossible for us to go out to educate people or remove debris from flood roads.”

Exacerbating the problem

The problem continues in Wadi Dawan. Across Yemen, years of war, the collapse of public services and poor waste management have turned waste disposal into a growing problem.

In cities like Taiz, waste has polluted fields, drinking wells and dams, and increased the risk of water-borne diseases, according to local officials and health experts.

Dr Yassin Abdul Malik al-Shuraihi, who oversees disease surveillance in Yemen’s central Taiz province, told Al Jazeera by phone that the region, home to millions of people, is suffering from a severe lack of garbage bins and delays in garbage collection.

As a result, many people have started dumping waste in the flood drains that run through agricultural areas.

“Sewage, household waste and construction waste are now being dumped directly into these channels,” al-Shuraihi said. “We record many cases of diarrheal disease throughout the year because the sewage contaminates some drinking wells, making the water unsafe.”

Environmental experts are calling for urgent action, warning of the dangers of the waste it brings to Yemeni villages and fields.

Khaled Saleh Bawahidi, professor and director of the Environmental Studies and Water Resources Center at Hadramout University, said that careless disposal of waste poses a long-term threat to the environment and human health.

“The accumulation of garbage destroys natural habitats and pollutes the soil around the palm trees, threatening the growth of the trees and the long-term harvest,” said Bawahidi. “The health of the bees is also in danger because the pastures are being damaged and the natural resources are decreasing, this may cause the dates and honey to decrease.

And in the end, it will be the Yemenis who face the consequences.

“Garbage dumped in the valleys pollutes the soil and surface water,” added Bawahidi, “and creates a breeding ground for insects and rodents that can infect people and livestock.”