Yemen is a country of about 30 million people. It occupies the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and borders Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the shipping lanes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Climate fragility afflicts more and more countries in the world today. Flood and drought, as well as changes in multi-year and seasonal variability, have become major risk factors.

Yemen is caught up in overlapping emergencies that have defied mediation. In the north, bloody battles rage for control of Marib governorate between the internationally recognised government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Huthi rebels who ousted him in 2015. Hadi’s government prevents fuel from entering the Huthi-held port of Hodeida, and a tug of war over the riyal, Yemen’s currency, has led to its collapse in nominally government-controlled cities. 

Among its many deleterious effects on social well-being, violent conflict—including widespread criminal violence—can undermine economies by…