VIETBIO

Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity Discovery and Characterization in Vietnam

VIETBIO (Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity Discovery and Characterization in Vietnam) is a German-Vietnamese training and research project focusing on the development and transfer of an integrated biodiversity discovery and monitoring system for Vietnam.

The project aims to strengthen the potential for research on the conservation and the innovative and sustainable use of biodiversity in Vietnam and beyond in Indochina through the installation of a national capacity network.

The German side—in close consultation with the Vietnamese partners—will provide state-of-the-art equipment and training in specific skills. In this context, the establishment of an integrated biodiversity data and information system will be a key component.

Two basic activities are conducted jointly:

Joint field trips in Vietnam to provide field training, collect new data, obtain samples for training purposes and for testing innovative inventory and recording methods in the field.
Training of Vietnamese researchers during 3 month working visit in Berlin at MfN and BGBM in state-of-the-art methods.
The training is provided in four modules:
- Specimen Digitization
- DNA Barcoding
- Data management
- Bioacoustics

Modern equipment purchased for the project will be used to document and analyse the Vietnamese samples/specimens collected in the field.

Partners and funding

VIETBIO is a collaboration between the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science (MfN), the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin (BGBM) and four Vietnamese institutes which are leading in collection-based biodiversity research: The Vietnam National Museum of Nature (VNMN) and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) in Hanoi as well as the Southern Institute of Ecology (SIE) and the Institute of Tropical Biology (ITB) in Ho Chi Minh City, which all belong to the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).