BRIEF REPORT ON THE FIRST LATIN AMERICA
VETIVER CONFERENCE
Santiago, Chile, 14-16 October 2010.
Paul Truong
TVNI Director for Asia and Oceania

BACKGROUND
The Chilean Vetiver Network in cooperation with The Vetiver Network International (TVNI), The Latin American Vetiver Network and the University of the Americas, with major sponsorships from the Chaipattana Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand, the Royal Thai Embassy, Santiago and other local businesses, organized the first Latin America regional conference on the Vetiver System for Environmental Protection & Rehabilitation with the theme Vetiver, a green hope.
The Conference was opened by TVNI Patron: Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand

CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The program includes the first two days for presentations, the last day for field trip and Conference lunch (Appendix 1).
The presentation of 18 papers includes 6 main topics of Review, Environmental Protection, Bioengineering, Agriculture and associated topics of Poverty Alleviation and Handicrafts.
In addition to these presentations, there were also 11 Poster Papers submitted and these are included in the Proceedings CD.

DELEGATES
There were 60 local and international participants, plus about 25 University staff and students. In addition to the Conference organizers from Australia, Germany and USA and invited keynote speakers from Thailand, delegates from 10 Latin American countries participate in this conference: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
CONFERENCE IMPACT
In addition to the up to date contribution from outside of the region, this was a great opportunity for Latin American countries to update their knowledge base of Vetiver System applications, particularly among the smaller Central American countries. Of particular interest was for the first time a Cuban delegate participated in a Vetiver conference, the contribution from Prof. Claro Alberto Alfonso was invaluable. His more than 10 year research program, which is unknown to us, has provided some valuable basic research data to our knowledge base. He has clearly showed that with proper VS implementation and management, tobacco, bean and corn yield from poor and degraded Cuban soils could be improved between 15-20%. Results also indicated that tobacco leaf quality has also been improved under the VS soil and water conservation strategy.
The Conference also provided a great opportunity for both regional and national Networks to get together to discuss and draw up plan for future activities, cooperation and development. In an open forum at the end of the formal presentations on the second day, as a result of these discussions, delegates from Colombia volunteered to be the host of the next regional conference after the ICV5 in India in 2011.