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ABSTRACT:The strengths and common challenges faced by Latin American volcanologists that assume a variety of roles in the volcanic risk reduction context were discussed in the workshop "PASI 2011: Open Vent Volcanoes ". The event was held in Costa Rica with the participation of professionals from most countries of the American Pacific coast plus Argentina, the UK, Norway and Sweden. Several issues were specifically addressed, which allowed to discuss needs in five topics: 1) Lack of financial, human and technical resources at the observatories in the Latin American region; 2) Governmental and non-governmental programs' cooperation between technical and academic organizations; 3) Need for regional coordination, 4) The role of volcanologists as communicators and their interaction with other stakeholders in volcanic risk management, and 5) The contribution of the social sciences and the creation of multidisciplinary groups in the volcanological observatories. The Pacific margin of the American continent is an area highly exposed to volcanic activity, including some of the most important cities in the continent. Nevertheless, the institutions in charge of studying and monitoring the volcanic activity and hazards in many of the countries of this region face severe limitations to carry out their work. For the majority of Latin American countries, the large number of potentially active volcanoes and the reduced number of volcanologists who work in their monitoring, become one of the main limitations. The cooperation between observatories, and with universities and research centers, has helped to cover this need, at least partially. Beyond their scientific and technical role as physical and natural sciences experts, the volcanologists have also been involved in tasks that require the development of other skills, mainly as communicators of information related to volcanic risk. This has led to an increase in

PASI Workshop on Open Vent Volcanoes; San José, Costa Rica, 10–24 January 2011; Open‐vent volcanoes are a class of volcano that contain a relatively open path from the subsurface to the atmosphere without a major vent obstruction. Their persistent, low‐level activity, which poses little danger to communities, may be punctuated by violent activity without warning. These complex systems challenge and provide opportunity for observatories and national and international investigators. Long‐lived eruptions are also laboratories for students and scientists and a locus for developing collaborations and field testing new instrumentation and methods. Pacific Latin America hosts a high density of active volcanoes, and many are under‐monitored and under‐researched despite the efforts of local volcano observatories and their accessibility to U.S. and European scientists.