The Vetiver Network

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matto
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:20 pm
Location: victoria and southern nsw

The Vetiver Network

Post by matto » Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:17 am

Vetiver grass has been discussed on this forum a few times, especially in regards to Ian James' work. I just found this link from the permaculture.org website, through some of John Champagne's work championing vetiver in Bega, NSW.


http://www.vetiver.org/


The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) promotes the Vetiver System (VS), a concept integrating simple scientific principals of hydrology, soil mechanics, and similar natural processes to manage soil and water on a landscape scale. The concept excels best when implemented using clones of a remarkable domesticated plant – vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides), a non fertile, noninvasive Indian clump grass cultivated for centuries for essential oil. Vetiver is central to a wide range of applications, generally installed as narrow linear barriers (hedgerows): its roots hold soil in place and dense ground-level stems restrain sediment flows. Unlike “hard” engineering approaches that weaken over time, VS grows stronger. It is a renewal of a traditional approach that has been validated scientifically, and expanded and promoted by TVNI.

The VS provides significant economic, environmental and social benefits. VS is now used in most tropical and semi-tropical countries, north to Italy and south to Chile. Based on research and demonstrations through TVNI “partners,” including research institutions, development agencies, NGO's and the private sector, VS has expanded from a technology primarily for farm soil and water conservation to include major applications for:

•slope stabilization of public infrastructure (e.g., roads, railways, canals, rivers, construction);
•prevention and treatment of contaminated domestic and industrial waste water;
•reclamation of toxic mine-tailings and polluted industrial land;
•disaster mitigation (e.g., stabilizing potential landslide sites, dikes and levees, dampening wind scour, and area protection against flooding);
•soil improvement, wetland and marginal land restoration, and crop pest control;
•renewable natural fibre for handicraft production, mulch, and thatch, etc.

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