Assessment of institutional fit between international treaties on water resources in the Vietnamese mekong delta and Vietnam’s water law resources

Abstract

Climate change has led to an increase in droughts and the depletion of water resources in many parts of the world, along with an increase in conflicts over the use and management of water resources in transboundary river basins. However, the consensus, legal framework and coordination mechanism for the implementation of international agreements related to transboundary water resources are still incomplete and inconsistent. In some transboundary river basins, treaties and agreements on sharing, using and protecting water resources have not yet been joined by some member countries; In addition, some treaties and agreements only cover a few aspects of water resources without mentioning other aspects of use and benefit sharing. Vietnam's water resources dependent largely on upstream countries; the exploitation and use of water in upstream countries have the significant impacts on Vietnam's water sources. Therefore, solving international water resources issues are the great importance in ensuring national water security. The provisions of the treaties are an important legal basis for countries sharing water resources to negotiate and resolve issues arising from the exploitation, use, and protection of water resources. This article evaluates the institutional fit between the Treaties on water resources in the Vietnamese Mekong delta and the Vietnam’s Law on Natural Resources (amended) which will be voted on by the National Assembly at 5th session and is expected to be adopted at the 6th session in 2023 to assess the policy gaps in addressing the transboundary water challenges in the Vietnamese Mekong delta and evaluates the achieved results and proposes shortcomings that need to be overcome in the international cooperation on transboundary water resources.