(1) Well-Defined Reform Objectives

Recognizing the importance of water, the Vietnam Government is reforming its water governance. Key goals are defined in the National Strategy on Water Resources in five areas: (1) water resource protection; (2) water resource exploitation and usage; (3) water resource development; (4) mitigation of water-related damages; and (5) improvement of water resource managemen<sup>t</sup> capacity [123]. The water reform objectives are legalized by the Law on Water Resources (LWR) issued in 1998, and revised in 2012, and the Law on Environmental Protection (LEP) issued in 1993, revised in 2005 and again in 2014. The object of the LWR is to provide a legal basis for the management, protection, exploitation and use of water resources, as well as for the prevention, control and remedy of harmful effects caused by water [124]. The LEP 2014 governs environmental protection activities, including water environment protection [125].

To achieve its water reform objectives, governmen<sup>t</sup> agencies for managing water resources have been established at both the central and provincial level. At the central level, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) was established in 2002 to separate policy development and regulation of water resources from ministries overseeing the exploitation and use of water resources for economic development, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (irrigation and flood control), Ministry of Industry and Trade (hydropower) and Ministry of Construction (municipal water supply and drainage) [126,127]. All of these ministries also have their branches at the provincial level.
