Livelihood and Environment Trade-offs at the Time of Doi Moi: Industrial Water Use and Wastewater Management in a Craft Village in Peri-urban Hanoi

Since 1986, Vietnam's economic reforms or doi moi have dramatically improved the country's living conditions. Rapid growth in both industrial and agricultural sectors has contributed to more than half of the country's gross national product (NEA/WB/DANIDA, 2002). Since 1986, living standards have improved gradually both in urban and rural lowlands, although poverty still persists in the northern mountains, north central coast and the Central Highlands. Economically, Vietnam has progressed significantly in recent years. The country has averaged a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent a year along with reducing poverty from nearly 60 per cent of the population in 1993 to 16 per cent in 2006 (VDR, 2008).