Hawaii in late stages of ecological destruction

At the World Conservation Congress (WCC) being held here in Honolulu, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is entrenching itself in a greenwashing tradition forged eight years ago at the 2008 WCC in Barcelona.

Then, the scientific community was shocked by IUCN’s announcement it was taking money from Shell Oil. Many members quit IUCN for selling out.

Five years later, IUCN and Shell co-authored a report congratulating Shell for its progress in cleaning up the Niger Delta, an area Nigerians say Shell devastated irreversibly. More scientists and members, disgusted, quit after the 2012 WCC.

That’s when IUCN accepted $21 million from the South Korean government in exchange for greenwashing the construction of the controversial Jeju naval base built beside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which destroyed a rare soft-coral reef and displaced a 400-year-old sustainable farming and fishing village.

Now, supporting IUCN’s greenwashing role, the Star-Advertiser states that Hawaii “embodies conservation goals” (“Hawaii embodies conservation goals,” Our View, Sept. 1).

The IUCN seems oblivious to the destruction visited upon Hawaiian eco-systems by many cycles of intense resource exploitation and military occupation in the last 200 years.

While Hawaii truly is (or was) one of Earth’s greatest natural treasures, its lands and waters have been ravaged for every possible commercial gain since the arrival of Capt. James Cook in 1778.

Its endemic forests have been largely destroyed for pastures and sugar cane plantations; its reefs and nearby pelagic waters depleted of fish.

The military destroyed one whole island (Kahoo- lawe), and occupied and militarized 21 percent of the state with attendant contamination (over 400 toxic sites) and destruction.

Botanists, ornithologists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and many other natural scientists have marveled at Hawaii’s unique biodiversity and evolutionary history.

When Cook arrived, Hawaii had a 98 percent endemicity rate — almost every lifeform was unique. No one will ever know how many endemic species that inhabited Hawaii in 1778 are now extinct, but we can be sure it is in the thousands.

Hawaii is a bellwether of Earth’s future. Hawaii is indeed “the ideal setting” (per the Star-Advertiser’s editorial) for a tough, depressing discussion of what is really happening in Hawaii and on Earth — and not because of the thousands of hotel-rooms rented.

True, the nene goose is fine, the ‘alala (Hawaiian crow) is extinct in the wild but captive bred birds will be re-introduced, and silversword patches persist on Haleakala and Mauna Kea.

But consider the endemic birds, plants, and countless other known and unknown creatures driven to extinction by relentless economic exploitation and development. Hawaii leads the nation in threatened and endangered species, 437 officially.

The editorial noted the state’s battle with invasive species, but did not reveal that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has abandoned, bungled or lost the fight with virtually every invasive species, including miconia, coqui frogs and fire ants. There is expansion, rather than restraint, on transoceanic and interisland agricultural trade that spreads invasive species.

The DLNR, and related federal and state agencies, have done a poor job of protecting Hawaii’s unique flora and fauna.

Irreplaceable koa forests are dying of old age because DLNR prioritizes livestock grazing. Mauna Kea’s endemic mamane forest continues to diminish because DLNR won’t eliminate invasive ungulates; the endemic palila bird, totally dependent on mamane, goes with it.

Put simply, this spectacular island archipelago is in the late stages of ecological destruction.

Instead of discussing the reality of the appalling state of Hawaii’s natural environment and what to do about it, local media focus on how much money the conference is bringing in.

Koohan Paik is a Hawaii island resident and project director of the Asia-Pacific program at the International Forum on Globalization; Nelson Ho is a Hawaii island environmental activist; and Tom Luebben is a Native American rights and environmental attorney.