Hawaii needs to plan now for climate change, experts say

A year ago the Hawaii Climate Commission published a report that illustrated just how vulnerable the islands are to climate change, especially when it comes to sea level rise.

On Monday, a conference sponsored by the commission began to explore the next steps: How to tackle accelerating climate changes and potential catastrophes in the decades ahead.

The Hawaii Climate Conference at the University of Hawaii’s East-West Center featured experts from Hawaii and elsewhere discussing ideas for dealing with global warming.

Commission Coordinator Anukriti Hittle said the conference was held to help to set priorities for the 22-member commission, which was established in October 2017 by Act 32 of the state Legislature. Members of the commission include a variety of state department heads and four state lawmakers.

Panel discussions Monday addressed implementation strategies for reducing emissions from vehicles, adapting to sea level rise and how to pay for climate change strategies.

During the sea level rise panel, Jennifer Jurado, chief resilience officer of Broward County, Fla., talked about how four South Florida counties, including Miami- Dade, combined forces to establish regional planning tools and help individual communities identify “adaptation action areas” at risk of coastal flooding.

New development in South Florida must accommodate a 50-year planning horizon, including 2 feet of sea level rise, she said, and the region has established a goal of maintaining 80 percent of beach dunes.

Steve Long, director of government relations with The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts, talked about his state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, which offers support to cities and towns in planning for climate resiliency and implementing projects.

Long said the state provides funding for vulnerability assessments and developing action plans to bolster resiliency. Communities that complete the program are certified as MVP communities eligible for additional funding for “nature- based solutions,” he said.

The Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, adopted by the state Climate Commission at the end of 2017, projects climate change-driven sea level rise of 3.2 feet over the next 30 to 70 years.

The report forecasts a future of coastal flooding, erosion and property damage that will force more than 19,800 people from their homes and cause $19 billion in economic losses.

Sam Lemmo, administrator of Hawaii’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said Hawaii has a history of allowing development too close to the shoreline, and it continues to be a major problem.

While state policies and laws talk about climate priorities, being resilient and dealing with coastal hazards, Lemmo said Hawaii statutes fail to mention sea level rise as a major threat.

“That has to change,” he said. “That has to change quickly because we’re running out of time.”

Lemmo said not only must lawmakers acknowledge rising seas by inserting language in the state’s Coastal Zone Management Act, they should underwrite the agencies that are in a position to promote and implement adaptation measures.

“That is something we fundamentally and essentially must do now,” he said.

Lemmo said that when he started in his position 20 years ago, he never thought the problem of shoreline erosion and threats to coastal development would reach this point.

“Now with the specter of sea level rise, its going to be more and more difficult to protect our beaches and protect our existing coastal development simultaneously,” he said.

“We have to make some difficult choices about what’s important to us. What we’re willing to pay for — or give up — if we want to have beaches in the future, the bread and butter of our visitor economy.”

While the commission report estimated $19 billion in damage from sea level rise, Lemmo said that figure didn’t count infrastructure losses or economic multipliers.

“It could possibly double or triple the economic losses when we start to look at the overall picture,” he said.