National Climate Report Lands As Hawaii Grapples With Wildfire Threat
It features a new focus on Indigenous knowledge to combat the islands’ climate challenges.
The Biden administration released on Tuesday the fifth , a major update on how climate change is affecting the U.S.
In Hawaii, the report comes at a time when the threat of wildfires continues to weigh heavily on many residents.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need this report to tell people that wildfires are a really big problem for Hawaii鈥 after the Aug. 8 blaze that devastated Lahaina, said Abby Frazier, a geography professor at Clark University and lead author of the update鈥檚 chapter on Hawaii and U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands.
However, Frazier said the chapter better illustrates why the fires have become such a big problem in the Pacific, where they鈥檝e increased fourfold in the region in recent decades. That鈥檚 partially due to climate change, as well as the proliferation of invasive, dry vegetation such as guinea grass, researchers say.
In Hawaii, fires now burn roughly the same percentage of land annually as they do across the Western U.S., at roughly 1%, according to Frazier and Clay Trauernicht, a University of Hawaii wildlands fire researcher.
In other U.S.-affiliated islands, such as the territory of Guam, that percentage of total land burned by fires is far greater – closer to 4% annually, they said. As a comparison, 4% represents one of the worst fire years ever recorded in California, Trauernicht said.
The reason Guam sees such extensive area burned by fire is because almost a quarter of its land area has been turned into savannah due to human activity, he added.
The wildfire threat is just one of the topics covered in the Pacific chapter, alongside other worsening problems such as severe storms and flooding. The chapter addresses the growing community inequity and the threats to the island鈥檚 unique ecosystems and cultural resources.
It鈥檚 the first time that the NCA includes a focus on Indigenous knowledge to combat the climate crisis鈥 growing challenges, according to Frazier. For example, the chapter on Hawaii and the Pacific will feature several efforts to replant Indigenous crops, such as the in the Federated States of Micronesia.聽
That effort aims to replace breadfruit trees in the outer islands of Yap after Super Typhoon Mayask struck the area in 2016.
The chapter also discusses , the practice of growing trees next to crops and livestock so that they all mutually benefit, and aquaculture as ways to develop resilience against the effects of climate change.
The report further examines the impacts on public health from hotter conditions associated with climate change.
The first NCA was released in 2001 and the previous one was released five years ago.
The latest report includes a push for more Hawaii and Pacific Island data in the national portions of the report, Frazier said. It acknowledges the need for more data from these regions, and how a history of colonialism has in some cases lead to a dearth of data there, she said.
Frazier previously served as a fellow at the East-West Center in Manoa. On Monday she traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a ceremony for the NSC at the White House. It wasn’t confirmed whether President Joe Biden would attend.
鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to get this information in the hands of more community members and spread the word,鈥 she said of the report. She said she’s especially encouraged by the community efforts featured in the report to combat climate change.
“We need to keep doing things to scale this up,” she said of those efforts.
The Hawaii and U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands chapter .
Civil Beat鈥檚 coverage of climate change is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Environmental Funders Group of the Hawaii Community Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
