Craft villages are a unique feature of rural Vietnam. They play an important role in rural social-economic development and contribute to industrialization and modernization processes. Craft village development contributes to poverty alleviation and hunger eradication in rural areas, provides jobs in leisure time, improves incomes and quality of life etc. However, the sustainable development of craft villages has yet to receive due attention from legislation and administrative authorities at all levels. Unlike many countries in the world, craft villages in Vietnam are not only associated with the preservation of cultural values but also exist as industrial clusters. Based on traditional activities, craft villages of Vietnam are characterized by small-scale level, manually operated equipment and backward technologies, low material/fuel efficiency, suffered limitations of manufacturing space, and possessed insufficient awareness on environment and health protection of the people. Because of this, a number of the activities of the craft villages have imposed pressure on their respective environments, and the surrounding communities, especially water environmental pollution. This article focuses on the challenges of water environmental protection in craft villages of Vietnam; It also provides shortcomings in water environmental management in craft villages and recommendations to amend and supplement regulations and mechanisms related to water environmental management in craft villages in Vietnam.
