ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2019 – 50
URGING THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO RECOGNIZE AND ADOPT INDIGENOUS LAND STEWARDSHIP PRACTICES TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians and the indigenous peoples of the United States – Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives – were able to live in harmony with their environments and developed complex systems of resource management to promote sustainable farming, fishing, and resource gathering; and
WHEREAS, according to the 2018 Special Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the planet is already seeing the consequences of 1° centigrade of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic Sea ice, and estimates that by 2030, the planet will have warmed 1.5 ° centigrade bringing with it the beginning of catastrophic consequences; and
WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs successsfully advocated at the Hawai‘i State Legislature for the creation of the State of Hawaiʻi ʻAha Moku in 2007, to bring the generational wisdom of Native Hawaiians regarding the protection and sustainability of natural and cultural resources to the govenrment agencies of the State of Hawaiʻi, attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources through Act 288, Session Laws of Hawai‘i, 2012; and
WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, through Resolution 2012-30, has already established its support for the First Stewards’ call on the U.S. Government to formally recognize the First Stewards and their expertise and to ensure the full and effective participation of tribal governments and indigenous communities for guidance in all policies and decision making that affect Native and Indigenous peoples’ way of life and to support their management efforts to address climate change, which strengthens America’s resiliency and ability to adapt to climate change; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz as the Chair of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis and in collaboration with a group of 13 other U.S. Senators on July 10, 2019, solicited the views of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian community leaders on the impacts of climate change in our communities and requested our input, knowledge, and experience to help shape federal action to address climate change.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 60th Annual Convention in Lahaina, Maui, in the malama of Welehu and the rising of Lāʻau Pau, this 16th day of November 2019, urging the United States Government to recognize and adopt indigenous land stewardship practices to address climate change; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Hawaiʻi Congressional Deglegation, 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 subject matter committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House subject matter committee on 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 Lāʻau Pau on the 16th day of November 2019, at the 60th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Lahaina, Maui.
Hailama V. K. K. Farden, President
