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Yemen's forests are the next casualty of war

More than six years of war has killed tens of thousands of people and left 80% of Yemen's population reliant on aid. With demand for firewood soaring due to fuel shortages, there are now concerns that the country's humanitarian crisis, with millions facing starvation, has compounded the risk of deforestation. By Khaled Abdullah

Vendors unload firewood bundles from the back of a camel at a market in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 10 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

A man walks by a truck loaded with logs at a firewood market in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 July 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

The fuel shortages due to a coalition blockade on Houthi-held areas, including limiting access to the main port of Hodeidah, have led businesses and families to swap diesel and gas for firewood. The alliance says the blockade is needed to foil arms smuggling

A lumberjack carries firewood bundles on a motorcycle in Bajil district of Hodeida province, Yemen, 24 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

After gas was discovered in the Marib region in the 1980s, wood cutting became limited to remote areas but the war has choked Yemen's energy output, forcing a reliance first on imports and now on wood from trees more usually used to build homes

A boy who works as a lumberjack, rides a donkey as it drags a logged tree in Bajil district of Hodeida province, Yemen, 24 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Around 886,000 trees are felled annually to feed bakeries and restaurants in the capital Sanaa alone, said Abdullah Abul-Futuh, head of biodiversity and natural reserves at Yemen's Environment Protection Authority in the city, which is run by Houthi authorities along with most of northern Yemen

Free drinking water is hung on a tree in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 23 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Some 5 million trees have been cut down over the past three years across the north, Futuh continued. "That is the equivalent of 213 square km (82 sq miles) of forests, knowing that only 3.3% of Yemen's total area is classified as forests," he added

Ali al-Emadi, who works as a lumberjack and his nephew, split firewood with axes at their village in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 10 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Yemeni lumberjack Ali al-Emadi (pictured) spends hours chopping down an acacia tree with an axe as his 12-year-old nephew helps out splitting logs. In a country blighted by war, Emadi had to turn to logging in his northern al-Mahweet region to eke out a living

Lumberjacks load bundles of firewood onto a truck in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 24 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Forests are largely privately owned and poor families were traditionally allowed to chop wood for free as long as they only cut branches and spared the trunks for regeneration. "Now, we uproot them with mattocks (pickaxe) .. nothing is left," Emadi said

Lumberjacks use an electric saw to cut a tree in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 10 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Yemen has few woodlands but a relatively rich variety of flora in the oil-producing Arabian Peninsula desert region. In al-Mahweet, known for its thick canopies, several types of acacia, cedar and spruce are vanishing

A nephew of lumberjack Ali al-Emadi splits a log with a sledge hammer at his village in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 10 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Lumberjacks who have the means buy an acacia tree from land owners for the equivalent of around $100 and then sell logs to traders who send them to the cities

Sulaiman Jubran prays in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 24 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

"Demand depends on the number of fuel ships that make it to Hodeidah port. These days it (demand) is very high," said Sulaiman Jubran, who scratches a living selling firewood to visiting traders. "We are scared the country will become a desert, it is already happening ... you no longer see the trees that once covered the mountains"

Vendors load wood onto a truck at a firewood market in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 July 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

A 5-tonne truck loaded with logs nets the equivalent of $300-$700 in Sanaa, depending on the wood and haulage distance

Ali al-Emadi, who works as a lumberjack, eats lunch with his family at their house in a village in Khamis Banisaad district of al-Mahweet province, Yemen, 24 June 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

"The owners of bakeries ... use wood and stone to heat their ovens. In the past, they used to use gas, but now there is only wood," Emadi said. "Should there be good quantity of wood available, we make a living, thank God. But nowadays trees are scarce. If I get something, we eat. At least we live or die together"

A vendor carries wood at a firewood market in Sanaa, Yemen, 17 July 2021 (photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

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