Rural Industrialization and Environmental Governance Challenges in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

• Author: Trung D. Dang,Thong A. Tran
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1070496520942564
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Rural Industrialization

and Environmental

Governance Challenges

in the Red River Delta,

Vietnam

Trung D. Dang

1

and

Thong A. Tran

2,3,4

Abstract

This article examines factors and root causes of dilemma and environmental gover-

nance challenges in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. Since the Renovation (-

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period, there has been an accelerating growth of craft villages and industrial clusters

in rural areas. While these processes contribute to creating jobs, increasing rural

income, and assuaging rural–urban migration pressures, little attention is devoted to

environmental effects they have caused at the village level. Drawing on case studies in

the Red River Delta and desk reviews, this study suggests that rural industrialization

has witnessed rapid expansion of craft villages and intense market competition

among them, leading to environmental pollution and resource depletion. Although

the Vietnamese government has issued directives and environmental laws to regulate

and control environmental pollution, the situations remain unabated. This study calls

for sound environmental policies to sustain the operation of craft villages while

ensuring the effective governance of rural industrialization.

1

Vietnamese Department, Australian Defence Force School of Languages

2

Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, AS8, Level 7

3

Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, The Australian National University

4

Health and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Corresponding Author:

Thong A. Tran,National University of Singapore, AS8, Level 7, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260,

Singapore.

Email: thong.tran@nus.edu.sg

Journal of Environment &

Development

2020, Vol. 29(4) 420–448

!The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1070496520942564

journals.sagepub.com/home/jed

Keywords

craft villages, environmental governance, environmental pollution, rural industriali-

zation, Red River Delta, Vietnam

Over the last 20 years, the image of many traditional craft villages in Bac Ninh

province has been transformed into a new modernized version; the number of

extravagant houses has grown over time; nice new roads have been built for cars

and trucks going into the villages to transport raw materials . . . But sadly, it is just

superf‌icial, because the fragmented and spontaneous development and an inade-

quate planning of many craft villages in Bac Ninh have caused extreme damage to

the environment. (Tuan, 2018)

This is a piece of text extracted from thousands of similar media items concern-

ing the consequences of emerging small rural industries and their environmental

impacts after two decades of government promotion of craft industries as part

of initiatives to industrialize and modernize rural areas.

For some time, Vietnam has been praised as a phenomenal economic success.

Originally as one of the poorest countries in the world at the outset of the -

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’i(Renovation policy) in the mid-1980s, the country has sustained fast eco-

nomic growth and recently leaped up to the middle-income status. Vietnam has

also been praised for its remarkable progress in poverty reduction and human

development. The poverty rate fell rapidly from 50% in the early 1990s to 3% in

2018 (World Bank, 2018). This progress has been achieved through Vietnam’s

industrialization and transition toward a market-based and open economy since

the -

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’iperiod and the integration into the World Trade Organization in

2007 (Nguyen et al., 2016).

By the same token, this process has also been marked by agricultural decol-

lectivization, farmland allocation to individual households, and trade liberali-

zation policies, which together have released the tremendous growth potential

for the rural Vietnam. Agricultural production has been revitalized, making

Vietnam escape from chronic food def‌icits to being one of the world’s largest

rice exporters. Along with the urban-based industrialization through develop-

ment of Industrial Zones and Export Processing Zones, Vietnam has also wit-

nessed the revival and emergence of rural industries that had been signif‌icantly

suppressed during the collectivization period. The government’s recognition of

the private sector, the removal of restrictions on entrepreneurial freedom, and

continuing rural unemployment pressure have led to a recovery of craft produc-

tion in many villages (Spitzenpfeil, 1999).

Recognizing the benef‌it of small rural industries and the limitations of urban-

based and foreign direct investment-led industrialization in generating

Dang and Tran 421