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Helen Lackner

Helen Lackner is a non-resident fellow with the Sana’a Center. She lived in Yemen for more than 15 years in the past half century, working in all three of the states which existed in that period. She worked mostly in rural development, but also taught and carried out local socio-economic studies and training. Yemen’s environmental issues, particularly water and the impact of climate change are among her many interests. Her most recent books are ‘Yemen in Crisis, Devastating Conflict, Fragile Hope’ [Saqi 2023] and ‘Yemen, Poverty and Conflict’ [Routledge, 2023]. Her first book on Yemen was ‘PDRY, Outpost of Socialist Development in Arabia’ [Ithaca, 1985]

Helen's latest contributions

What Britain’s New Government Can Do For Yemen

The widely expected victory of the Labour Party in Britain’s July 4 parliamentary elections came with a few surprises. As widely described, it was more a collapse of the Conservative Party than a Labour success, with the Labour Party gaining almost half a million fewer votes than it did in its equally historic defeat in 2019. Despite this, Labour … Read more

Yemen’s Vulnerability to Climate Change: How to Strengthen Adaptation

February 21, 2024
This policy brief summarizes the environmental issues Yemen faces and outlines policy and technical responses to limit their impact. These include environmental problems caused by the absence of state intervention or by misguided policies, and those that are symptoms of global warming, pointing out the frequent synergy between them. Yemen, like … Read more

Solar-Powered Irrigation in Yemen: Opportunities, Challenges and Policies

April 29, 2021
This study examines the current trend of solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS) use in Sana’a Basin, identifying the pros and cons of this approach. It presents the perspectives of farmers and experts in terms of what is happening and what should be done to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts of SPIS. This paper proposes … Read more