ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2018 – 32
URGING THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS TO PRESERVE NATIVE HAWAIIAN CULTURE AND COMMUNITIES AGAINST THE IMPACTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE AND CLIMATE CHANGE
WHEREAS, the Hawaiʻi Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, issued by the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission in December 2017, offers a State-wide assessment of Hawaiʻi’s vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise; and
WHEREAS, the report highlights the risks sea level rise could have on Native Hawaiian cultural resources, practices, and communities located next to and dependent upon coastal access, and specifically, the report identifies 550 at-risk Native Hawaiian cultural sites under a 3.2 foot sea level rise scenario; and
WHEREAS, many of these flood areas that will be affected by sea level rising are areas where many Native Hawaiians live; and
WHEREAS, these at-risk sites include iwi kūpuna, heiau, Hawaiian Home Lands communities, and fishponds, or any site within the 25,800 acre sea level rise exposure area (SLR-XA) identified by the report; and
WHEREAS, the Honolulu Climate Change Commission issued guidelines in July 2018 for the State of Hawaiʻi and county governments to expect 3.2 feet of sea level rise by mid-century, and 6 feet of sea level rise by end of century, these guidelines, based on recent studies adding in glacial melt scenarios, nearly double the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s forecasts of 3.2 feet of sea level rise by 2100, and these new forecasts could result in an additional 10,000 acres added to the SLR-XA state wide; and
WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell released a directive to all city departments to plan culturally appropriate adaptation strategies for the impacts of climate change and sea level rise based on Honolulu Climate Change Commission guidelines, all future projects undertaken by city departments in Honolulu must account for sea level rise, and existing projects including Honolulu Rail Transit must also reflect climate change risks in decision making; and
WHEREAS, at its first annual convention on September 3, 2018, the Maui Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs adopted this same resolution.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 59th Annual Convention in Kalapaki, Kauaʻi, in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ʻOlepau, this 17th day of November 2018, urging the State of Hawaiʻi and County Governments to preserve Native Hawaiian culture and communities against the impacts of sea level rise and climate change; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs urges the State of Hawai‘i to develop an archipelagic-wide inventory of Native Hawaiian cultural resources and practices impacted by sea level rise, to work with Native Hawaiian communities to create culturally-based adaptation processes and protocols to preserve Native Hawaiian cultural resources and practices, and to develop plans in concert with Native Hawaiian communities to maintain access to coastal lands and waters; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs urges its members to reach out to their lawmakers to encourage policy development around climate change, sea level rise, and cultural site preservation, both within Hawaiʻi and in the states in which Hawaiian Civic Clubs are present; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of Welehu and the rising of ‘Olepau on the 17th day of November 2018, at the 59th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Kalapaki, Kaua‘i.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
