Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 September 2009 — Hawaiian advocates call for unified action against climate crisis [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian advocates call for unified action against climate crisis

By Liza Simūn Public Affairs Specialist AIuly conference on climate change delivered plenty of dire news about possible irnpacts on the Hawai'i environment, but the three-day event also highlighted efforts to create solutions by applying Native Hawaiian knowledge of stewardship. As carbon dioxide build-up warms the planet as a result of fossil-fuel burning, Hawai'i will experience a glut of consequences including shoreline erosion, coral bleaching, violent storms and destruction of

animal and plant habitat, warned eminent Stanford University climate change scientist Stephen Schneider, a keynote speaker at the 17th annual Hawai'i Conservation Conference, whieh happened July 28 to 30 at the Hawai'i Convention Center. Meanwhile, speakers at a conferenee forum on Conservation, Land and Culture, said that the grim predictions increase the importance of cooperative action among Native Hawaiian groups, government and nonprofit agencies that share the same goal of preserving the heahh of natural resources, many of whieh bear of the scars of past neglect and misuse. "As we heal the land, we heal our-

selves, whieh means we are doing spiritual work," said Jonathan Scheuer, director of OHA's Land Management Hale. He pointed to the successful partnership of public and private entities, including OHA, that eame together to protect in perpetuity the Hawai'i Island rain forest Wao Kele o Puna, whieh had in previous years been slated for geothermal drilling and was the site of Native Hawaiian protests in the 1980s. Scheuer noted that the parties involved in the 2007 cooperative venture had onee been at odds with one another. "But they used a tremendous amount of honesty and self-awareness to say, We are now going to do what is riglit for Hawaiian people and all of Hawai'i," he added. Several panelists said the ancient Native Hawaiian resource-manage-ment concept of ahupua'a is being used to increase self-sufficiency and reduce the state's notorious dependence on imported fossil fuels, the driving element in the climate change crisis. "More loeal families need to grow crops for their own food. There has to be a change in the way we do things," said Chuck "Doc" Burrows of 'Ahahui Mālama I Ka Lōkahi, a nonprofit that has coordinated volunteers and govermnent funding to restore Kailua's Kawainui Marsh in Windward O'ahu. Burrows, a retired Native Hawaiian science teacher, said the 800-acre marsh - now on the road to revitalization under state and county management, was recently designated a wetland of international importance. "This was not because of the

acreage or the number of species it supports, but because of the cultural and histor-

ieal sites inherently tied to the wetlands," Burrows said. He said cultural practices go hand-in-hand with sound scientific conservation principles. "Scientists often don't bring a spiritual understanding to the land, whieh is where indigenous peoples ean provide guidance, even if they do not own the land," said Burrows. Given how mueh Hawai'i stands to lose if more isn't done to stave off climate change, panelists urged Native Hawaiians to work with the many govermnent agencies that have legal responsibility for protecting Hawai'i's environment. If cultural activists find it hard to overcome mistrust of authorities they deem responsible for altering the island's natural enviromnent through development, it is understandable, said panelist William Ailā Jr. of Mohala I Ka Wai, a Wai'anae watershed restoration group and a veteran of many enviromnental protests. "The government has the palapala, yet it is the families who have been there who have heard the eall of the 'āina, but sometimes you must temper the enthusiasm to demonstrate kuleana until the govermnent agencies ean catch up with you," said Ailā. He added, "Take the iniīiative to get to know the rules a government agency has to play by. If the person you are talking to can't change the rules, the next step is to get into the Land Use Commission or the Legislature, because believe it or not some government managers want the rules changed as mueh as you do."

Other speakers at the conferenee included Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele, a renowned kumu

hula, cultural practitioner, scholar, teacher and cormnunity leader, who spoke on "Lonoikamakahiki: The Cycles of Winter," and Kaiwi Nui, coordinator for the Hālawa-Luluku Interpretive Development Project under OHA, who addressed climate change from a cultural perspective. Scientists at the conference said the alarming scenarios of climate change are expected to hit the next generation hard, predicting that by 2050 portions of Hawai'i's coastal eonununities would be destroyed by sea-level rise associated with global warming. With an eye to these predictions, Eric Enos spoke at the forum on behalf of Ka'ala Farms, a cultural learning center on 0'ahu's Leeward Coast. He said his organization has worked hard to get Native Hawaiian-focused eonservation curriculum into Hawai'i's schools, but has been dealt many setbacks by the federal No Child Left Behind standards. Still, he said that environmental education for Hawai'i's youngsters is key. "Remember Pele," Enos said. "When she devours a part of the old forest, she leaves a kīpuka and from that kīpuka comes the seeds of regeneration. If humans have destroyed our landscape, we must find a plaee to begin to practice onee again the cultural

traditions that tie us to the land." ■

MĀLAMA 'ĀINA ■ CDNSERVATIDN KAWAIOEA ĪHE EIVING WAĪER 0F OHA

Wūo Kele o Puna, a Hawai'i lsland rain forest onee slated for geothermal drilling is now protected in perpetuity after various parties in a 2007 public-private partnership overcame their past differences for ū greater good. Panelists ūt the conservation conference pushed for more such collaboration among Nūtive Hawaiians, government and nonprofits. - Photo: KW0Archives

Experts in Hawaiian resource-managementdiscuss climate change at the Hawūi'i Conservation Conference. From left, are: Jonathan Scheuer and Kevin Chang of 0HA's Land Management Hale and Kōwikū Burgess of the frustfor Puhlie Land. - Photo: k UzaSmn