Methods of the past are showing a way through climate change

Recent years of brush fires, the hottest temperatures on record and periodic storm damage have brought climate change realities to Maui’s shores. Scientists predict the very existence of many Pacific island nations will be threatened within this century. In this past year alone, three islands in Hawaii, Japan and the Arctic vanished.

While these shifts can be overwhelming, they are also showing aina-based organizations the way.

It was the 2011 Tohuku tsunami that gave the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust a hint at Maui’s climate resilience. The tsunami mimicked what a big storm at the end of this century might look like.

“When we were able to assess the damage to our 277-acre Waihee Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge, we were very glad to see that areas restored to native species endured the tsunami incredibly well,” said Scott Fisher, 49, of Kula, chief conservation officer for the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.

The soil at Waihee held through the tsunami aftereffects. Roots and plants remained intact. But there was severe erosion in coastal areas not restored.

The wetlands have become HILT’s lab. Trees absorb the wave energy of large storms, “like a catcher’s mitt,” Fisher said. So loulu, a fan palm critical to all Hawaii coastal ecosystems, is being planted to restore the ecosystem at Waihee, along with the sturdier and more disease-resistant hala.

“Restoring native plants is a crucial step in promoting climate change resilience,” he said.

Internationally, reforestation has been done for carbon capture, to slow down the rate of global warming and sea level rise. But on Maui it is also being done as “ecosystem disaster risk reduction,” using natural features of the land to ensure its ability to outlast whatever hits.

“When we protect what is not yet broken — often sacred sites and landscapes — it’s like protecting the principal in the bank,” said Penny Levin of Wailuku. She grows kalo on HILT’s Waihee Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge and oversees a local nonprofit. “When we recover, reconnect and reduce the impacts on the many webs of our islands’ natural ecosystems, we are growing the principal, reducing risk, and the aina is better able to withstand pressures and protect us.”

Guided by aloha aina (love of the land), malama aina (caring for the land) and the principle of mookuahau (relying on the wisdom of kupuna), HILT also provides habitat for endangered species and protects valuable land.

“We have protected over 17,000 acres — of our total 20,000 acres — for highly productive agricultural lands across the archipelago,” Fisher said. He’s seen farmers take the lead, using drip irrigation, improving soil quality, and some are even using rock mulching, a practice Hawaiians used for generations, placing rocks around crops to absorb heat and dramatically improve water retention in the soil.

“The protection of agricultural lands in some of their portfolio keeps the opportunity open to produce more food locally at a time when we are dependent on imports for more than 85% of our food,” Levin said. “While that might not appear to be a direct climate change issue, it is part of rebuilding resilience for our islands.”

HILT is preparing for impacts that range from food insecurity; ocean warming and acidification, which damage reefs and food sources; intense storms and rainfall events that erode streams and river banks; drought; and increased disease that can spread to species and native forests as temperatures rise. It also collaborates with Hawaiian Homes and neighbors in Waihee to implement practices that protect people and habitat. HILT sites also prevented development along the shoreline.

Studies of the Waihee wetlands provide one more enduring lesson from ancient Hawaiians.

Under Chief Piilani, a fish and taro pond built in the 1500s prevented millions of gallons of sediment from the uplands from dumping into the sea, protecting the nearshore marine ecosystem. It also provided an abundant food supply.

“They knew what they were doing,” said Fisher, who started his own ulu (breadfruit) farm.

“If you work close to the land, you know that nothing is sure in life but change,” Levin said. “The other thing you know as a farmer is that the more you take care of the aina, in all its forms, if you let it lead, the more it will take care of you, and the more resilient it will be in the face of change.”

She calls the planting practices of Pacific and Hawaiian people “shining examples of resilience thinking.”