New study finds forests, fish, food production protected by indigenous agroforestry

An interdisciplinary team found that local fisheries can benefit from native forest protection and place-based agroforestry systems during a study in Nature Ocean Sustainability.

A team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Kamehameha Schools and Seascape Solutions found that protecting native forests combined transitioning fallow and unmanaged agricultural lands to a Native Hawaiian agroforestry system can improve local food production, biodiversity conservation and cultural connection in places from land to sea.

Mauka to makai

For generations, Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians) like other Pacific islands cultures, managed mauka i makai (from land to sea) through a system of moku (land divisions) that ensured food security and ecological balance. However, colonization, land privatization and industrial agriculture disrupted these systems.

Over the past few decades, large-scale declines in plantation agriculture has now left 40% of Hawaiʻi’s agricultural lands fallow and unmanaged, which can pose risks from elevated erosion, invasive species and wildfire.

The research combined 100,000 acres of native forest protection with 400,000 acres of transitioning suitable fallow agricultural land to agroforestry could increase sediment retention by 30%, ultimately reducing erosion and boosting nearshore food production by almost 100,000 meals per year in some moku.

Benefits of this magnitude were shown for west Kauaʻi, the south shore of Molokaʻi, west Maui and east Hawaiʻi Island, where communities are tightly connected to and reliant on fishing for livelihoods, subsistence and social networks.

Longterm restoration, land stewardship

Wao kānaka (lower and middle-elevation lands)–traditionally used for agriculture and food production—remain underutilized in natural resource management efforts. In pockets across Hawaiʻi, ʻŌiwi and kamaʻāina (local) farmers are restoring agriculture lands through Indigenous-informed agroforestry.

Integrating woody plants and crops can revitalize agriculture, enhance biodiversity and preserve cultural traditions. These methods can also be used to create green jobs, grow nutritious foods and strengthen cultural ties, according to Jade Delevaux, lead author and former post-doctoral researcher in UH Mānoa’s Water Resources Research Center.

The research also developed a method using fishing pressure, fish surveys and habitat structure maps to document changes in seafood production due to reduced sediment runoff. The straightforward approach to connect land stewardship and seafood availability can be applied even in data limited places, according to Kostantinos Stamoulis, study co-author and director of Seascape Solution

Investing in community-led initiatives, cross-sector collaboration

The study calls on policymakers, conservation organizations and funders to integrate biocultural strategies into conservation policies and funding mechanisms drive impactful change for biodiversity conservation, food security and human wellbeing in the Pacific.

Additional co-authors to the study include: Leah Bremer, Clay Trauernicht, Tamara Ticktin, Nathan DeMaagd and Gina McGuire from UH-Mānoa; Natalie Kurashima from Kamehameha Schools; Zoe Hastings Silao from the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry; and Lida Teneva from WaveCrest Solutions.

This study was funded by the UH Sea Grant College Program and the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Center.