Water resources have never become as rare as in recent years when the demand for water is constantly increasing, while many rivers are degraded, polluted, and clean water is increasingly scarce. Droughts and lack of water occur frequently and seriously. Hence within the framework of the Water Scarcity program funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Institute of Water Resources Planning is implementing the project “Water scarcity policy assessment for Vietnam” during 2019 - 2020.

The project is intended to extend the work undertaken so far on i) the policy framework for water management and responses to emerging water scarcity in Vietnam and; ii) the additional understanding of how modelling is used to inform policy responses to water scarcity and its drivers (principally population growth, economic growth and demand for good goods and services and the additional stress of climate change).

The FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific (FAO RAP) is supporting the countries of Asia to “… bring agricultural water use to within the limits of sustainability and prepare the sector for a productive future with less water”.  Within this context, FAO RAP is in the design process of establishing a long-term Water Scarcity Program (WSP) of cooperation and support to the national governments of Asia and is in the process of designing a framework for practical support. In the short-term (3 years), WSP will: assess the scope of water scarcity, evaluate effective management response options, work to improve governance, and assist partner countries to implement adaptive management in the agriculture water sector using appropriate, and newly developed tools and methodologies.

Within this context, FAO RAP is collaborating with local organizations to undertake deep assessment of national governance arrangements in place to manage water scarcity and Vietnam has been selected as one of the first countries to participate in this assessment.

(Photo: MH https://www.thiennhien.net/2015/04/22/binh-thuan-thieu-hut-nguon-nuoc-tram-trong-bien-doi-khi-hau)