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Program Goals and Principles

Native Hawaiian Climate Resilience Program

MEGA Lab
Students and researchers from the MEGA Lab, an indigenous led non-profit, conduct GPS surveys to better understand how climate change impacts coastal resources.  PC: Anianikū Chong

 

To assist the Native Hawaiian community (NHC) in preparing the Kō Hawaiʻi Paeʻāina (the Hawaiian archipelago) for its voyage into a changing climate, ONHR has established the Kapapahuliau Climate Resilience Program.  The name Kapapahuliau seeks to provide the imagery and foundation (papa) of a voyaging waʻa (canoe) and crew experiencing the changes (huli) in wind and currents over time (au), and adjusting sails or direction accordingly while maintaing a course to the targeted destination.  It embodies a process of learning and transforming by recalling Native Hawaiian ancestral ingenuity in adaptation and provides a foundation for ONHR to support the NHC to learn and take actions to prepare for threats and hazards, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and recover rapidly from adverse conditions and disruptions. 

The goal of ONHR’s Kapapahuliau Climate Resilience Program is to enhance the ability of the Native Hawaiian Community to navigate the effects of climate change in ways that maintain the integrity and identity of the Native Hawaiian people while also maintaining and enhancing their capacity for coping, adaptation, and transformation.
 

Program Guiding Principles 

 Kapapahuliau is centered around the following five Guiding Principles for which actions are carried out to support the overall Program Goal:

Aloha ʻĀina (love for the land): The Hawaiian Islands and its environment are essential to NHC identity.
Native Hawaiians have lived in Hawaiʻi since time immemorial, developing an epistimology, culture, values, and society rooted by the distinct physical and spiritual relationships to ʻāina (the land, that which sustains) for which they are from.  The cosmogonic genealogy and creation chant, Kumulipo (source of primordial darkness), reflects this understanding and anchors Native Hawaiians to Hawaiʻi by emphasizing a familial and reciprocal relationship to this land and its environment - where “Hawaiʻi cares for us as we take care of Hawaiʻi”.  For Native Hawaiians, ʻāina is the lifeblood and center of identity, way of life, and culture and, as such, cannot be replicated anywhere else on Earth. Therefore, preservation of the Hawaiian Islands in the face of climate change is essential and vital to the identity of Native Hawaiians and resilience of the NHC.
Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO) currently represent the collective NHC.
The United States recognizes and respects that improved outcomes and resolution of challenges affecting the NHC and its resources and interests are best achieved when informed and implemented by the Community itself. Through numerous statutes addressing vital functions, activities, needs, and concerns of a vibrant, self-determining community (e.g., health, cultural preservation, burials, economic development, education, etc.), Congress involved NHOs in their respective areas of expertise as the appropriate representatives of the NHC.
For this funding opportunity, ONHR reinforces this principle of self-determination and values NHOs as best suited to strengthen Native Hawaiian climate resilience. It is further understood that there is considerable diversity among NHOs with respect to their mission, location, relationships with others, and operational or administrative capacity. Therefore, applicant eligibility is limited to NHOs (as defined in Section C below) and three categories of financial assistance are available to support and build capacity among a broad array of NHOs facing climate change related issues.
Climate threats and impacts require multi-sector and multi-generational approaches.
It is well understood that climate change has resulted in a range of impacts across a multitude of marine and terrestrial environments affecting habitats, resources, and communities within them. These impacts have a broad reaching effect on the NHC and its integrity and will likely intensify (if unmitigated) through the remainder of this century – affecting multiple generations of Native Hawaiians. Better understanding of the multitude of impacts across the Hawaiian Islands, across different sectors, and over different time scales will provide a broader approach for appropriate adaptation and transformational activities to occur. Therefore, project proposals from NHOs involving a range of sectors or subject areas important to Native Hawaiians (e.g., cultural preservation, traditional foods, arts, health and well-being, socio-economic issues, policy, technology, education, etc.), as well as those involving youth engagement, are encouraged.
Native Hawaiian climate resilience must incorporate cultural knowledge systems and ingenuity.
There is a Hawaiian proverb (ʻōlelo nōʻeau, “Ua lehulehu a manomano ka ʻikena a ka Hawaiʻi – Great and numerous is the knowledge of the Hawaiians”, that reflects the immense multitude of Indigenous Knowledge that exists for Native Hawaiian ways of life. Application and usage of kilo (observations), loea (ancestral ingenuity), and ‘ike kūpuna (traditional knowledge) in the face of environmental change were memorialized within moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies), oli (chants), moʻolelo and kaʻao (traditions, histories, and stories), and other forms of Indigenous Knowledge over centuries across the paeʻāina (Hawaiian archipelago). NHO applicants are therefore expected to utilize such Indigenous Knowledge systems in their project proposals as application and integration ensures pilina (connection), continuity, and resilience of the NHC.
Kuleana (Right & Responsibility) to advance NHC resilience through dialog and shared learning.
Grant-funded projects are often conducted independently and the results or outcomes of the activity have little dissemination beyond the grantor and grantee. Thus, knowledge gained and lessons learned by the grantee are not readily available to others facing similar circumstances. The ʻōlelo nōʻeau  “E lauhoe mai nā waʻa; i ke kā, i ka hoe; i ka hoe, i ke kā; pae aku i ka ʻāina - Paddle the canoes together, bail and paddle, paddle and bail; and land will be reached , is a reminder that if everyone works together with a will, the destination or goal will be reached. Further, this Hawaiian proverb recognizes that the voyage is long and expresses a kuleana for applicants to include shared learning, youth engagement, and/or outreach as a part of their projects in order to increase NHC resilience to climate change. Additionally, opportunities will be created by ONHR for dialog, reporting, and shared learning among Kapapahuliau financial assistance recipients and their participation in such convenings will be required as a condition of award. 
 

 

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