Bangladesh, April 3 -- In the sun-scorched highlands of Yemen, where jagged mountain ridges stretch across vast desert plains, a quiet but deeply significant struggle is unfolding. Beneath the rocky terrain of Marib Province lies a valuable natural resource-marble-that has long supported local livelihoods and once held promise as a major contributor to national revenue. Today, however, this sector operates in a legal vacuum, shaped not by formal regulation but by tribal authority, wartime conditions, and the collapse of central governance.

More than a decade of conflict has weakened Yemens already fragile institutions, leaving entire industries-especially natural resource extraction-effectively unregulated. In this vacuum, tribal leaders...