Yemen – Aden’s most beautiful nature reserve turns into waste dump

Date: 31/05/2022

Location: Aden – Yemen

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:03:33

Source: A24 in Aden

Restrictions: A24 subscribers

Storyline:

Yemen’s civil war has turned a nature reserve in the southern port city of Aden, once awarded a UN prize, into a rubbish dump.   

The ticket office has been abandoned at the entrance to Al-Hiswa, nature reserve, where trees have been cut down and construction waste dumped.

Aden resident Yassin Moqbel said the 19-hectare site used to be a recreational outlet for residents and tourists but now it has become a rubbish dump, full of sewage.

Environmental expert Dr. Abdullah Al-Hindi warned of a pollution and environmental disaster in the reserve as a nearby wastewater treatment plant stopped working, sending wastewater to the reserve.

The reserve was one of 35 initiatives awarded the UN’s Equator Prize in 2014 for meeting climate and development challenges through sustainable use of nature.

Shotlist:

-Soundbite (Yassin Moqbel – Aden resident):

“We used to visit the reserve with our children regularly to enjoy the nature. It has become a dumping ground and sewage. Unfortunately, there is no environmental law to protect it.”

-Soundbite (Dr. Abdullah Al-Hindi – Environmental specialist):

“The most important threats facing Al Haswa Nature Reserve in Aden during the period after the war in 2015 include water used to irrigate the crops in the reserve. This water comes from the Kubota wastewater treatment plant that ceased to work after the war, which caused untreated water to run on the reserve. This could lead to an environmental disaster and pollution of the reserve.”