UH Sea Grant, partners awarded $68.5M to advance climate resilience

Contact:

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/gTF

The University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program (Hawai'i Sea Grant) is leading a diverse group of organizations that has been awarded $68.5 million to build a more resilient future for Hawaiʻi.

The project, ʻĀina restoration through community governance to advance climate resilience in the Hawaiian Islands, will build long-term climate resilience by restoring forest, watershed, coastal and marine ecosystems and through improved co-management and community governance of resources.

"We are honored to have been entrusted with this award and opportunities for transformative work across the pae 'āina," said Darren T. Lerner, Hawai'i Sea Grant director and project lead. "We will work together with two co-leads, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo and the State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources, along with many other partners and communities, to build an enduring program and long-term partnerships in support of vital community governance and ʻāina stewardship for long beyond the five-year project."

The collaborative of twelve partners spans local and national non-profit organizations, collectives of Indigenous and local stewards, state and county government agencies, and academia.

The funding from the Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is through the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, a historic $575 million investment from the Biden-Harris Administration's Inflation Reduction Act. It is one of only eight awards across the nation and the only one led by a university.

Integrating Native Hawaiian stewardship

The award builds on the knowledge and practices of the moku system, a Hawaiian land tenure and resource stewardship system refined over generations. The moku system divides islands into large tracts of land containing forested landscapes, cultural resources and seascapes to maintain long-term abundance.

Project activities will focus on five moku selected because of their high potential to promote Native Hawaiian stewardship practices and revitalize the moku system in areas that have been underserved by climate adaptation investments: Kona, Kauaʻi; Waiʻanae, Oʻahu; Kona, Molokaʻi; Pūʻali Komohana, Maui and Kohala, Hawaiʻi.

"Reducing risks and advancing climate resilience often means focusing on community-based governance and stewardship," said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, PhD. "This funding will help build a more resilient future for the Hawaiian Islands through planning, protection, and restoration actions."

In addition to making significant place-based investment in ʻāina restoration and conservation projects, the project will invest in community-centered governance, network building, knowledge exchange and capacity building in the five moku while connecting ongoing work across Hawaiʻi. Eighty-five percent of the $68.5 million will go beyond the university to directly support community partners and collaborators.

Project partners:

• University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program (Project Lead)
• Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (co-lead)
• Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (co-lead),
• Conservation International Hawai'i
• County of Maui, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands
• Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Foundation
• Hawaiʻi Office of Planning and Sustainable Development
• Kaʻala Farm Inc.
• Kupu ʻĀina Corps
• Mālama Learning Center
• The Nature Conservancy

Moving forward, the project team will be working to expand the list of partners to include additional community organizations in the five moku, with the goal of long-term partnerships that will support vital community governance and ʻāina stewardship.

(NOAA release)

Members of Hawaiʻi's congressional delegation celebrating the news:

"This new federal funding - part of the Inflation Reduction Act's historic investment in climate action - will restore critical watersheds and forests and utilize Native Hawaiian knowledge and practices to help move us to more a sustainable, climate resilient future for Hawai'i," said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i).

"Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, a historic $68 million will be invested in Hawai'i for community-driven climate resilience initiatives. As a coastal state with a rich history of 'āina stewardship, Hawai'i will greatly benefit from the University of Hawai'i's work to protect our island home from the impacts of climate change by restoring watersheds and native forests, reinvigorating coral reefs, and revitalizing food systems," said Congresswoman Jill Tokuda (D-HI). "I firmly believe that climate resilience strategies and solutions must be rooted in the traditions and practices of the people and communities we are working to protect. This project marks an important step in our shared efforts to safeguard the environment, the cultural heritage, and the people of Hawai'i."

"In Hawai'i our community, culture, and economy all thrive because we have healthy and resilient coastlines," said Hawai'i Governor Josh Green. "The Āina Restoration through Community Governance to Advance Climate Resilience in the Hawaiian Islands project will reinvigorate historical systems of resource management to build a resilient future for the Hawaiian Islands against increased heat, drought, flooding, sea level rise and wildfires. This is an exciting opportunity and we look forward to the partnerships that will emerge thanks to the University of Hawai'i and the support of the Biden-Harris administration and the incredible folks at NOAA."

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The University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program is part of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's prestigious School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. It supports an innovative program of research, education, and extension services directed to increasing sustainability of coastal and marine resources and resilience of coastal communities of the state, region, and nation. Science serving Hawai'i and the Pacific since 1968.

Link to video and sound:

VIDEO: https://go.hawaii.edu/gTF

BROLL:

Video from Mālama Learning Center;

SOUNDBITES:

Darren Lerner, UH Sea Grant College Program Director and Project Lead

(0:14)

"The project is really critically important if we're going to improve upon an increased climate resilience of our communities across the pae ʻāina, across Hawai'i. And it starts with getting community engaged and involved."

(0:20)

"It's incredibly important to work closely with community to learn from the knowledge of the past, and in particular, knowledge and practice that has been here in the Hawaiian Islands, and to draw from and weave together that knowledge and understanding with today's practices and today's policies."

Brenda Lima, Hui Mālama Loko I'a Coordinator at Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo

(0:16)

"We know that the restoration of ʻāina is super important, but to invest in the people of those places and to recognize the knowledge that they have and give them the opportunity to direct the work and ensure that there's resilience in their place-that's the really exciting thing for us."