Participatory management and adaptive governance of water in rural Vietnam

Abstract

The Vietnamese Government has endorsed a community-based integrated approach to resource management. This approach is based on a collaborative partnership between government and the community, and as such involves multiple stakeholders with different and often conflicting objectives. My research examines the challenges involved in this approach and the opportunities to effectively engage various stakeholders. It will address the problem of decentralisation in water resource management and adaptive governance by government agencies. Integrated catchment management (ICM) is explored as the core concept throughout the research. The research looks into a number of activities undertaken by local institutions in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, to adopt centralised strategies in water resource management and adaptive governance at a local level. The thesis investigates how central policies could be localised, and conversely, how local needs could be reflected in the central policy making process. These issues are explored through studying the process of river catchment management, including the water allocation between agricultural use and hydroelectricity generation, along with water distribution in local irrigation systems. The research applies a combination of multiple analysis methods: stakeholder, qualitative and economic, and institutional analysis. The analysis identifies the continuing gaps between the theory and practice of ICM in a complex situation of Vietnam’s developing economy, its huge natural resources potential, ancient bureaucracy and unique political context. It identifies the absence of coordination between hydroelectricity development and sustainable catchment management. For instance, there is no representative from the main water users, the hydroelectricity plants and rice farmers, on the River Basin Organisation. Local authorities also have no action in stimulating collective action in the community. The social capital of the main actors in local water management is evaluated to identify the potential benefits of participation in the Integrated Catchment Management and incentives needed for action to be taken. The connection of institutional and relational capital is demonstrated a strategy of decentralisation. The issue of scale-up management by water users is examined in the Vietnamese current legislative and policy framework. Selection of the right organisation model for local irrigation management is important in order to stimulate the local users to participate in ICM. Recommendations are made as to the most appropriate framework including mechanisms for water sharing among users in the catchment, a catchment authority with representation of main users on the advisory board, self-finance sustainability for water service providers, and incentives for farming users in the catchment management. The thesis will also show the important role of government agencies in facilitating this framework.