Marly Winckler: Three Decades of IVU Congresses, Vegfests and Global Representation

International Events, Organization and Global Representation

Marly Winckler's involvement in IVU's international events spans more than three decades and several continents. She first attended an IVU World Vegetarian Congress in The Hague in 1994. After becoming IVU Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2000, she became increasingly involved not only as a participant, but also as an organizer, speaker and representative of IVU at world and regional events. Her appointment as Regional Coordinator in 2000 and her subsequent election as the first Latin American to lead the IVU International Council marked important stages in the globalization of IVU's leadership.

One of the landmarks of this work was the 36th IVU World Vegetarian Congress in Florianópolis, Brazil, in 2004, of which Winckler was the main organizer. It was the first IVU World Congress ever held in Latin America and brought together participants from dozens of countries. She later organized the 1st Latin American Vegetarian Congress in São Paulo in 2006 and was the main organizer of the 12th International Vegan Festival in Rio de Janeiro in 2009, helping establish Latin America as an active region within the international vegetarian movement.

During her years of IVU leadership, she also co-organized, on behalf of IVU, a succession of World Vegfests and international festivals in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, while regularly speaking at international and regional events. The official IVU chronology records the World Vegfest sequence from the 40th event in California in 2012 through the 48th World Vegan Festival in India in 2023.

The 2011 Hangzhou Congress was particularly significant in Winckler's IVU trajectory. She attended as Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, and shortly after returning from China she was unanimously elected to lead the International Council, becoming the first Latin American to do so in IVU's history. She went on to serve as Chair across two terms, from 2011 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2025, while continuing as Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean until 2016.

Her presence at major events extended beyond vegetarian congresses. At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, she represented the movement in the international climate debate, drawing attention to the relationship between animal agriculture, meat consumption and destruction of the Amazon. Her participation was covered internationally, including by The Guardian.

Her international engagement continued after her years as President. In 2025, she returned to Hangzhou for the 10th Asia-Pacific Vegan U10th Asia-Pacific Vegan Union Conferencenion Conference, where she spoke on the historical continuity and contemporary relevance of vegetarian culture, and later participated as a speaker at the International Vegetarian Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, an IVU-co-organized event that marked the first conference of its kind in Vietnam.

Through these events, Winckler helped connect IVU's global structure with national and regional vegetarian and vegan movements, combining organizational work, institutional representation and public speaking. Her work took her to events across Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, reflecting the international scope that characterized both of her periods leading IVU.