COMMUNITY BASED AHUPUAA MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR CRB

The Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) poses an immediate threat to Hawaiʻi's food security, economy, cultural practices, and disaster resilience. Current measures have failed to prevent the spread of CRB, with recent sightings on outer islands. CRB was first sighted on Oʻahu over ten years ago, and has since diminished the integrity of our ecological model for Native Hawaiian well-being through negative ʻāina, national, community, ʻohana, and individual impacts. The destruction caused by CRB disproportionately affects Native Hawaiian communities as it restricts their ability to exercise subsistence, cultural, and religious rights, thereby threatening their sense of identity.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture’s negligent inaction allowed the invasive pest to wreak havoc nearly everywhere west of the Koʻolau mountain range. Recommendations for invasive insecticide palm injections require the castration of coconut trees (niu) and are a potential crime as it is poisoning a water source, which simultaneously severs our ability to sustain our diets and perpetuate populations of niu. Furthermore, pollinators and people are put at risk of poisoning with no knowledge of how to identify the symptoms.

The CRB battlefront is actively encroaching on our moku, Koʻolaupoko, putting us in a state of emergency. If we are to preserve any remaining CRB-free ahupuaʻa between Punaluʻu and Waimanalo, there is only one option left. That is to invest in a rigorous, all-encompassing, preventative management system that has been methodically designed by a niu-oriented community that has been advocating for new groves since 2006. Passing up the opportunity to do so might be all it takes to secure a future devoid of coconut (niu), banana, loulu, lauhala, kalo, sugar cane, and tī–all resources we rely on for water, food, fiber, and culture.

Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona recognizes the urgency and severity of the threat CRB poses on the well-being of our community as well as the greater social, economic, cultural, and ecological implications. As mahiʻai, we have been experiencing the early impacts of CRB firsthand, and we grieve over the unjust effects of HDOA’s poor oversight that marginalizes the values of our subsistent ways of life. However, our losses positioned us to clearly identify what an effective plan will require to successfully prevent further loss and prevent the erasure of our history. Namely, the lack of accurate and rapid data, community support and coordination, transformative leadership, non-invasive solutions, and infield-experienced knowledge inhibits the current ineffective measures.

Our organization stewards a 3-acre farm, Mama ʻĀina Farms, in Ahuimanu, Kahaluʻu. Our CRB-free site offers a limited window of time to prime our ahupua’a community with both defensive and offensive skill sets and resources to ensure CRB never extinct our unique varieties of niu. Since August 2022, we have been successfully implementing and monitoring the efficacy of our non-invasive Korean Natural Farming (KNF) solutions as deterrents in small-scale trials, equipping us with adequate evidence to expect successful scaling (see Appendix A for a portfolio of proof of concept). Our community network has accumulated and strengthened for over (how many years?) under influential leadership that has historically proven its capacity to aggregate and coordinate community support. Our ability is exemplified through the legalization of paʻi ʻai in 2011 and over a decade of organizing Kuʻi at the Capitol on the Legislatures yearly opening date. The people who make up Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona collectively gear us with the expertise, support, passion, and judgment to implement a CRB action plan that can promote ecological Native Hawaiian well-being within our ahupuaʻa; with the potential to be modeled in other ahupuaʻa across the pae ʻāina.

Proposed Plan of Action

Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona proposes a holistic, ahupuaʻa-focused three-pronged approach operating through a membership-driven coalition. The formation of the coalition serves five purposes: (1) to develop a niu map that will provide geospatial data to inform CRB management decisions, (2) to streamline the distribution of resources and the sharing of information related to CRB management, (3) to build capacity, as an ahupuaʻa unit, to rapidly report and respond to CRB activity, as well as future pest threats, (4) to coordinate the implementation of our three-pronged CRB management approach, and (5) to promote ecological Native Hawaiian well-being by strengthening a sense of kuleana to protecting niu.

You can make a difference by donating today to Hui Aloha Aina Momona. All funds raised thru this gofundme will go to implanting, organizing and supplying immediate solutions to curb the ongoing expansion of CRB across Oahu