Located in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa Province, Nha Trang Bay is the 29th member of the Club of the most beautiful bays in the world, and the first marine protected area in Vietnam. It is also one of 16 national marine protected areas that must be effectively protected. Nha Trang Bay covers an area of over 500 sq.km. It has distinct ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass. In the meanwhile, it has high potential for marine conservation and has also recently introduced many large-scale construction projects to cater to the tourism industry. Its largest city, Nha Trang, is aiming to grow into a major marine economic hub by 2030. At the same time, the province is facing many issues relating to environmental protection and climate change, such as mass coral bleaching, which may threaten future sustainability if left unaddressed.

To address this, as well as implement Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP, the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee developed a rehabilitation plan for the Nha Trang bay, Decision No. 3028/QD-UBND dated 7 November 2022 promulgating the Master Plan for Nha Trang Bay Restoration to 2030, which includes activities for strengthening the coordinated management of seas and islands, advocacy, and ecosystem restoration through MSP/ICM. Moreover, according to Teng et al (2019), the concept of marine functional zoning originates from the concept of marine spatial planning (MSP), a basic task of the government which divides the seas and islands into different functional zones and provide technical facilities for marine development, conservation and management.

The specific objectives of this assignment are to (i) Collect and review existing information, data, relevant documents and maps; and conduct the supplementary survey to gather necessary information related to the functional zoning plan for the study area; and assess combined with the results of natural, environmental and socio-economic conditions in climate change, sea-level rise, and natural disaster contexts, characteristic ecosystems, the current status, trends of distribution and biodiversity changes, focusing on coral reefs; the conflicts in socio-economic development associated with exploitation and use of natural resources, conservation in Nha Trang Bay and MPA (ii) Propose an appropriate functional zoning plan, including mapping the functional zoning of Nha Trang Bay and MPA to improve the management efficiency of Nha Trang Bay Management Board, and (iii) Develop and finalize plans and regulations on management and inter-agency coordination mechanism of Nha Trang Bay, including MPA