Hanoi (VNA) – As ไVietnam is facing multiple challenges in water resources, it needs to bolster water sharing with countries, according to Nguyen Minh Khuyen, Vice Director of the Department of Water Resources Management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In an interview with VietnamPlus on the occasion of the World Water Day 2024 (March 22), Khuyen said amid climate change impacts and global population growth, countries must stay united and act together. The work is to balance human rights and people's needs as well as balance in benefits for countries using the same water sources. Khuyen cited a report from the UN-Water showing that currently, more than 3 billion people worldwide are depending on transboundary water sources. Without solidarity and fairness, water can be a cause of conflict when the interests of users are different and cannot be reconciled. When the quantity and quality of water decreases, it can affect human health and ecosystems, the official held. The risks for water resources can become a weapon or a target of conflicts. Vietnam is a country that has 3,450 rivers and streams with a length of 10 km or more, of which 405 are inter-provincial rivers and streams, including cross-border ones. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation and sharing in the process of exploiting transnational water sources on cross-border rivers such as the Mekong River, Red River, Ma River, Se San River, and Srepork River, Khuyen underlined. He noted that Vietnam was the first ASEAN member to join the Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses in 2014, becoming the 35th member of the convention and enabling it to become effective after 17 years of approval. The engagement in the convention has provided Vietnam with a favourable legal basis to negotiate and sign bilateral and multilateral agreements with countries sharing water sources. Cooperation in resolving disputes and handling issues related to transnational water resources is important, especially in the context that Vietnam depends on the exploitation and protection of water resources of upstream countries, he said. The official said that in order to prepare for the Natural Resources Law to become effective from July 1, 2024, the Department of Water Resources Management is working to build documents detailing the implementation of the law, a plan for the realisation of the law, and other documents specifying contents of the law. The department has conducted activities to popularise the law, while focusing on building the national water resources database to meet requirements of the national digital transformation programme. It has also built water resources scenarios to serve as a foundation for ministries, sectors, and localities to build their own water use plans, he said. Khuyen said that the department will speed up the restoration of degraded, depleted, and polluted water sources on a pilot basis for Bac Hung Hai, Nhue, Day, and Ngu Huyen Khue Rivers. Along with closely monitoring the water resources, the department will promote international cooperation in the field, the official added. World Water Day, held on March 22 every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance focusing on the importance of freshwater. The day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of the World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for World Water Day. This year’s theme is “Leveraging Water for Peace”./.