Vietnam Water Research Articles

Navigating Water Policy: Vietnam's Strategic Shift in the Mekong River Basin (2017-2021)

The historic drought and salinity stress experienced in Vietnam in 2020 starkly demonstrated the criticality of wise water diplomacy for the survival of lower Mekong countries, where the urgent need for water and maintaining natural flow are paramount. Consequently, the period from 2017 to 2021 witnessed a notable shift in Vietnam's water diplomacy, focusing on ensuring water security in the region and responding to the actions of upstream countries. This study examines Vietnam's water diplomacy and its pivotal role in safeguarding water security in the Mekong region during the specified timeframe. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study draws upon expert analyses and scholarly articles to shed light on the significance of water security in Vietnam's foreign policy, the profound impact of climate change and water policies on the nation, and Vietnam's proactive involvement in regional and international cooperation mechanisms. The study emphasizes Vietnam's remarkable adaptability and responsiveness to environmental and global changes, further showcasing the country's remarkable flexibility in its foreign policy pursuits.

Preliminary Results of Modelling Simulation for High-resolution Hydrodynamic Fields for Central Vietnam's Water

This paper presents the development of hydrodynamic simulation models (waves, currents) for the Vietnam East Sea and nestingto coastal area (applied in the coastal area of ​​Phu Yen province). The COAWST modeling system has been used. This is an open source system which supports optimal parallel calculation and allows solving large-scale simulation problems. The model has been calibrated and verified by deep water wave data at the stations of Bach Long Vi, Con Co, Phu Quy and Phu Quoc for good results. Along with that, with the goal of having high resolution for the central Vietnam water, the model has been set up with coastal wave data in Phu Yen for very good results, the correlation coefficient between calculation and measurement is up to 0.95. The results of the current field, surface temperature from the model of the ocean shows the similarity with the verification data, especially simulating the typical rising water phenomenon in Ninh Thuan - Binh Thuan area. However, some stages have complicated movements, the model has not been closely simulated, for example in the area of Phu Quy island.

Health dispossessions and the moralization of disease: the case of diarrhea in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Abstract Despite the swift development of Vietnam's water supply and sanitation (wat/san) sector, over the last ten years there have been 1.5 million annual documented cases of diarrhea. Western perspectives blame insufficient medical or economic advancement for failing to prevent diarrhea and its treatment, failing to grasp how disease is shaped in the cultural, moral and political domain. This article examines the nature and function of public health policy and discourse against the spread of the disease in Can Tho City, Mekong Delta. Some 94 qualitative interviews were conducted with government representatives, medical staff and water experts, and a survey of 131 households in urban and rural areas. Focusing only on improving the construction of wat/san 'hardware' does not improve 'cultural software', and ignores the needs of vulnerable minorities, compromising the control of diarrhea. I also show how state discourse follows neoliberal approaches in individualizing health responsibilities, and moralizing disease. Local (mis)perceptions and risky behaviors emerge as the result of structural constraints that include poverty, a lack of access to useful health information, and the cultivation of stigma around diarrhea. These types of health dispossessions serve a political purpose, where the state escapes responsibility for public health failures, and thus enhancing its efforts to maintain legitimacy as a good implementer and a 'caring head.' Keywords: Vietnam, public health, health individualization, moralization of disease, blame discourse, diarrhea.

Environmental and political implications of Vietnam's water vulnerabilities: A multiscale assessment

Vietnam's low‐lying areas of the Lower Mekong Basin are prone to floods, salt water inundation, and riparian competition with upstream neighbours. Vietnam's opening to the global economy, accompanied by industrialization and a rapidly growing population, impose multiscale (global, regional, local) stresses on urban and rural water systems resulting in water contamination and groundwater overdraft. Water vulnerability is a function of both natural and social hazards and depends on the scope of capital investment, political and ideological institutions, managerial capacity and governance. Water distribution and riparian ecosystem health are also hydropolitical issues related to dam‐building activity by Vietnam and its transboundary neighbours, Laos, Cambodia and particularly China, whose territory contains the source of the Mekong River. A multiscale assessment of Vietnam's interlinked water vulnerabilities indicates that the resilience of the country's social‐ecological water system rests on peaceful resolution of regional transboundary conflicts based on shared economic interests and on improved managerial practices of local authorities.