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The Missouri Botanical Garden was first invited to visit Viet Nam in 1994 after the 15th International Botanical Congress in Yokohama, Japan. Dr. Daniel Harder of the Garden met with biologists from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) within the National Center for Natural Science and Technology (NCST) to initiate discussions of the establishment of collaborative ties between our institutions. A formal agreement soon followed. Subsequent botanical explorations by other Garden botanists have yielded incredible discoveries and contributed greatly to our presently incomplete understanding of the flora of Viet Nam.

With support from the Garden and the National Science Foundation the Missouri Botanical Garden established the Viet Nam Botanical Conservation Program and opened an office in Ha Noi in the fall of 1998. Dr. Harder heads up the Program with the following objectives:
  1. Strengthening the botanical research capacity within Viet Nam through improvement to in-country infrastructure and directed, participatory training programs in botanical field techniques, herbarium management, plant identification, taxonomy, indigenous plant use, ethnobotanical surveying, conservation, and environmental awareness.
  2. Carry out botanical inventories and make collection of specimens,
  3. Contribute to a Government of Viet Nam initiative to conserve and expand protected areas based on sound biodiversity inventory data, and
  4. Publish and disseminate the collected scientific data and information.