CV. Akar Wangi - Vetiver Supplier and Project Management

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ROOTS OF STABILITY

Rapid adaptation to the consequences of climate change will become an urgent focus of aid and development programs. Under global warming, maintaining food production and water supplies will be two of the most urgent and difficult challenges. In arid lands, water scarcity is worsening. Harvesting rare, intermittent rainfalls, while, protecting farm soils from erosion are the main priorities. In arid zones, every drop of scarce rainfall must now be harvested. Although dams and water tanks have their place, in general, the only practical way to store rainfall is, as soil moisture, in the soil.

The key to harvesting stormwater runoff is retaining it on the land long enough for it to percolate into the soil. Vetiver, planted in contour hedges, retains and harvests rainfall by retaining runoff, allowing it to percolate into soils. In wetter regions, annual rainfall is being concentrated into more extreme storm events. In areas with higher rainfall, vetiver contour hedges harvest rainwater from storm events, while dramatically reducing soil erosion at the same time. Widespread establishment of vetiver hedges, on sloping and flood-prone farmland, will quickly and effectively mitigate against increasing water scarcity and the increasing concentration of annual rainfalls into more extreme storm events.

CIAT, in 2002 estimated that deep rooted South American grasses sequestered between 100 to 500 tons of Carbon per ha per year.

Vetiver would sequester probably more. Lets take an average of 250 tons of carbon per year.

This would mean that at a density of 100,000 plants per ha vetiver would sequester 2.5 kg carbon per plant.

Thus every linear km of vetiver hedge (8 plants per meter) would sequester (8000 x 2.5 kg) 20 metric tons of atmospheric carbon per year. A linear km of vetiver hedgerow is equivalent to 2000 fast growing poplars in carbon sequestering terms.

Your "carbon foot print" could be negated by planting 50 to 60 vetiver plants in a tropical country or approximate 8 meters of vetiver hedgerow.

Vetiver grass is a ‘soft’ engineering solution. Vetiver is planted to protect slopes, banks and cuttings. Vetiver is environmentally, technically and economically superior (in appropriate situations) to ‘hard’ engineering solutions. Vetiver is ‘green’, permanent and economical. Vetiver, bio-engineering for the 21^st century.

BIO-ENGINEERING for INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

Stop excessive soil erosion, vetiver planted on slopes, banks & cuttings is a permanent solution
Permanently stabilize roads, vetiver planted on banks & cuttings
Landslide protection, vetiver planted on unstable slopes will reduce rock falls and landslips
Vetiver protects causeways & floodways

SUSTAINABLE SEWAGE/WASTEWATER/SANITATION TREATMENT

Vetiver in Sewage Treatment, vetiver is ideal for sewage & wastewater wetlands and vegetated leach fields, vetiver roots are an excellent filter for wastewater outfalls and landfill leachates

SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT

Sustainable farming on slopes, vetiver contour hedges, ‘the best solution for soil erosion’ according to the definitive series, The Ecology of Indonesia.
Stabilize eroding riverbanks, vetiver is more economical than gabions, vetiver will reduce sediment loads from run-off, vetiver improves water quality, reduces nutrient loads & risk of eutrophication
Stabilize & protect storm water & irrigation canals, vetiver leaves will filter sediments and rubbish. Vetiver roots filter soluble nutrients and chemicals
Aquaculture ponds and access paths can be stabilized with vetiver grass
Fencing, mature vetiver, if combined with fencing wire, is an effective barrier against livestock
Dewatering soakage areas, vetiver roots improve percolation

For more information on Vetiver please visit www.vetiver.com

this website is a currently under development and the final version will be online in January 2008