Research on application of tradable water rights and establishment of markets for water rights at river basin level for water-shortage regions of Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam has been drastically making transformations to its economy from more centralized management into implementation of market-based mechanism. Many sectors and areas have achieved encouraging results after transformation. Water sector, including the area of irrigation and drainage, has making major changes to its policies, especially from the implementation of the Law on Irrigation and Drainage. According to the Law, products and services provided from hydraulic structure systems will be applied with a full-price mechanism starting from the year 2021. However, in order to the policy obtain its expected results, it needs to reform both mechanisms for allocation and management of water resources within the systems. This paper discusses the needs and proposes to apply a tradable water right system and water markets for regions and areas of Vietnam. The study suggests potential solutions to policy makers towards reforming the sector to increase the efficiency of management, exploitation and sustainable uses of water sources, contributing to the implementation of full-price mechanism in the area of irrigation and drainage in the future.