������Ƶ

Across Hawaii our nearshore reefs and coastal waters are facing constant pressures, many emanating from land.

For example, sediments wash into the sea after heavy rains, resulting in unsightly brown water and its associated human health risks. All too often, we see these same storm waters flooding homes and communities, resulting in damage, suffering and loss.

We must not forget the toll these events take on our natural ecosystems as well. Sediments interfere with corals’ ability to feed, grow and reproduce — and excessive sediment levels can smother and kill entire reefs, including areas favored by limu.

As their habitats and sources of nourishment disappear, species like uhu, manini, kala, and other reef fish populations also suffer. Taking care of our land protects our communities, our homes, our reefs and nearshore environments, and our way of life.

This year on World Oceans Day, The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii and Palmyra celebrate the collective and coordinated efforts of all who malama aina to reduce this pressure.

These efforts often involve the restoration of eroded mauka areas, which brings multiple benefits. For example, after the East Molokai Watershed Partnership installed fences and removed destructive non-native animals from the upper Kawela watershed, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that vegetation, including many native plants, increased from 1% to 75% in just seven years!

This dramatic increase significantly reduced erosion, decreasing the amount of sediment carried to the coastal waters and reef by 74% annually. Encouraged by these results, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided funding for Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife to fence the entire upper gulch area, which should decrease sediments even further, preventing another 1,500 tons from reaching the coastlines and reefs every year.

And as vegetation in the gulch increases, the watershed will capture more rainwater to replenish the island’s aquifers.

The restoration of coastal wetlands, which absorb heavy rains, storm surge and sediments, provides multiple benefits to coastal communities and the associated nearshore environment.

On Oahu, the local nonprofit Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi is restoring hundreds of acres in the Heeia wetlands with loi kalo and other traditional crops such as ulu. While contributing to food security, this work also perpetuates and shares Hawaiian cultural practices and traditions, and native wildlife like the aeo (Hawaiian stilt) are returning to the area.

Efforts like these contribute to the state’s climate goals and highlight how working with nature — rather than against it — can help us navigate and adapt to the current climate crisis.

The Honoapiilani Highway relocation on Maui provides another opportunity to do just that. With planning underway to move a chronically flooded segment of the highway inland, we can restore coastal habitats such as wetlands to ease flooding and help control runoff.

In the meantime, the Hawaii Department of Transportation will be improving a large retention basin, another useful tool for capturing sediments, to reduce the flow onto the Olowalu-Ukumehame reef, the largest continuous reef on Maui. The incredible value of this productive reef — a vital source of coral larvae for reefs across Maui Nui — cannot be overstated, and this effort will help to increase its productivity and resilience.

Our well-being is inextricably linked to the health of our environment. Restoring natural habitats is a cost-effective way to ensure the sustainability of our island way of life and help address the climate crisis.  

With another El Niño looming this year, we are sure to feel the heat in the coming months when the trade winds weaken and ocean surface water temperatures warm. So, too, will our reefs feel the heat.

We must increase the pace and scale of this work to help communities withstand more severe storms and to help coral reefs endure the more frequent marine heatwaves anticipated this year and in the coming decades. A single marine heatwave in 2015 led to Hawaii’s first mass coral bleaching event and resulted in a 30% loss of live coral cover statewide.

With climate change, the most urgent and effective action we can take is to reduce local pressures on our reefs to help them build resilience.

As we celebrate the many communities, partners and funders contributing to this important work, we encourage government agencies and officials across the state to continue supporting and providing essential funding required to adequately care for our lands, communities, nearshore waters and reefs.

Mauka to makai management has served Hawaii well in the past and current efforts to restore these connections should inspire us to do more to build a sustainable environment so that both people and nature thrive.