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

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded $68.4 million in federal funding to the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, which will work in partnership with a dozen groups spanning government, nonprofits, academia and local stewards.

The new award is through the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and will be used to help improve climate and disaster resilience across the state.

The funding will also help restore Native Hawaiian fishponds, limu, and coral reefs to reinvigorate habitat, and help reduce risk and improve disaster resilience by establishing new green infrastructure projects and building capacity within at-risk communities, among other things.

“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 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.

“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 a more sustainable, climate-resilient future for Hawai‘i,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz.

The collaboration of 12 partners spans local and national nonprofit organizations, collectives of Indigenous and local stewards, state and county government agencies and academia.

“In Hawai‘i our community, culture, and economy all thrive because we have healthy and resilient coastlines,” said Hawai‘i Gov. 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.”

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.”