PHOTO ABOVE: The 800-year-old loko i‘a kuapā (walled coastal fishpond) at Paepae o He‘eia serves as a cornerstone of a university-community partnership to restore ancestral circular economy practices and values in Hawai‘i. (Front L-R) Keli‘i Kotubetey, Paepae o He‘eia; Kawika Winter, He‘eia NERR; Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, UH Mānoa (Back L-R) Kanekoa Shultz, Kāko‘o Ōiwi; Hi‘ilei Kawelo, Paepae o He‘eia
Pō‘ai Ke Aloha ‘Āina Center for the Ancestral Circular Economy & Justice
AMIDST TODAY’S GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS, Hawai‘i’s sustainable development challenges are being exacerbated by rising sea levels, environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources, which are amplifying strains on energy sources, increasing costs, and the state’s dependence on imported goods and industries like tourism and construction.
However, long before the advent of today’s model of an extractive linear economy, Hawai‘i operated on a unique ancestral circular economy that embraced a “give, take, regenerate” model that sustained an isolated island civilization for centuries.
Recognizing the significance and values of this ancestral circular economy, the University of Hawai‘i (UH) is developing a first-of-its-kind Pō‘ai ke Aloha ‘Āina Center for the Ancestral Circular Economy & Justice under the leadership of Professor Kamanamaikalani Beamer, director of the UH Mānoa Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, and the Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature and the Environment.
His lab, Pō‘ai ke Aloha ‘Āina — which loosely translates to “center for ancestral circular economy and justice,” like the upcoming center that it will serve — is paving the way toward this new paradigm for UH. Through annual summits and publications, his team of graduate students and mentees are helping to catalyze local research, advocacy and partnerships, while fostering international collaborations.
“Hawai‘i is an ideal setting for implementing and studying sustainable development, and circular economy principles and practices,” said Beamer. “Our isolation and finite resources offer a controlled environment to rapidly assess the impact of environmental changes. But more importantly, our rich ancestral knowledge and values-based circular economy practices can serve as blueprints for universal application for other community-based circular economies around the world.”
An Economic Model that Mimics Nature
Gaining traction in Europe and Asia, the circular economy business and economic model emphasizes the need for designing more durable, quality products, and recapturing or repurposing materials to minimize environmental impacts. Practices like urban mining or recycling rare materials exemplify this concept of conserving natural resources and stimulating economic growth while reducing energy consumption and hazardous waste. Recycling copper for example, has been found to utilize 85 percent less energy than the primary production of copper, while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
While environmental and economic applications of the circular economy are well-established, there remains a gap in integrating cultural values and social equity. To achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of establishing “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” communities, a multidisciplinary approach is required.
Integrating Culture and Economy
Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiians) prioritize and integrate social well-being as part of its ancestral circular economy. Centered around intimate, place-based relationships, the environment is revered as kin. Natural systems and resources are deified and genealogically connected to people, enabling an enduring philosophy and framework of Aloha ‘Āina (love of the land). Mimicking the natural regenerative process of wai (water), Aloha ‘Āina guided the creation of reciprocal social and ecological management practices.
Innovative systems like the coupling of lo‘i kalo (wetland agro-ecosystems centered around taro cultivation) and loko i‘a (Indigenous aquaculture systems) are examples of Aloha ‘Āina systems that lasted for generations without painstaking management. Kanaka ‘Ōiwi observed and selected the best locations for cultivating kalo (taro) and fish, then engineered complex agro-ecosystems and aquaculture that worked in harmony with the environment. This resulted in regenerative systems that mimicked nature to produce high yields of food over long periods, sustaining a thriving economy of abundance for centuries.
Harnessing Community to Build a Values-based Economy
Perpetuated over generations, Aloha ‘Āina practices have expanded across the state more recently through community-led cultural revitalization efforts.
A prime example is the He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve (He‘eia NERR) on the windward shore of O‘ahu — a UH administered program that leverages federal funding in support of ‘āina-based biocultural restoration. Established in partnership with the community, He‘eia NERR weaves Indigenous and conventional knowledge systems through co-developed research, education, training, and stewardship; and it is the first UH program with an articulated goal of catalyzing a circular economy for the socio-ecological well-being of the community.
“Not only are we flipping the script on how conservation is done, but we are changing how and why we conduct research at UH,” said Kawika Winter, He‘eia NERR’s director. “Instead of using places to support our research, we are repositioning research to support our places. Examples of this can be seen in how the NERR works with its community partners, like Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi and Paepae o He‘eia.”
Since 2010, the nonprofit Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi has restored several acres of lo‘i kalo and other forms of agroecology. It has also constructed a certified kitchen and mill for the production of value-added goods like poi (mashed cooked taro), kūlolo (taro and coconut dessert) and kūlolo crunch.
In the process, it has restored an endangered waterbird habitat, revived Indigenous food systems, created green-sector jobs with living wages, and cultivated regenerative economic opportunities for the larger community. For example, to meet the demand for these value-added projects, Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi has been purchasing taro above market value from regional farmers to support the viability of Windward O‘ahu’s rural lifestyle.
“We are creating a wheel of relations and pilina (connections) that is so important to all of our community,” said Kanekoa Shultz, Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi’s executive director. “We are grateful to be able to grow and strengthen that wheel by creating more opportunities and mana (power) for local farmers and families.”
Next door, Paepae o He‘eia continues to work with the community to restore an 800-year old loko i‘a kuapā (traditional walled coastal fishpond). Over the past two decades, thousands of volunteers have helped to remove invasive species and rebuild the 7,000-foot ancient rock wall. In return, the nonprofit has shared its harvest, feeding its community.
“It’s important to us that we feed our volunteers and community,” said Hi‘ilei Kawelo, Paepae o He‘eia’s founder and executive director. “Food is mana. It facilitates relationship building. We share more than we actually sell because building relationships is more important than rebuilding the fishpond itself. We are creating stories, adding value and building our community.”
Added Winter, “In today’s society, rebuilding and supporting our community-based social networks is perhaps the greater challenge and need. Both organizations are bringing our community together and building something greater that cannot be contextualized or measured in dollars or acres. He‘eia is a petri dish for revival of ancestral economics in the context of market capitalism, and has the potential to be a social-ecological model for the rest of the world.”
Building a Global Community
Looking ahead, the UH Pō‘ai ke Aloha ‘Āina Center for the Ancestral Circular Economy & Justice aims to bridge Indigenous communities around the world by fostering research collaborations, knowledge exchange and lifting ancestral circular economy practices that challenge the status quo of linear economies and produce socially and culturally relevant solutions to today’s global challenges.
Beamer and his colleagues are building a community — a global network of circular economy experts and practitioners through research collaborations, presentations, projects, and practice.
This past June, he collaborated with Raworth at the Nature-Based Solutions conference at the University of Oxford to facilitate further discussions about advancing a global circular economy.
“The Ancestral Circular Economy is something that can assist communities around the world restore their connection to what is important for our future,” said Beamer. “The world is seeking alternative paths and roads toward a more just and regenerative economy, and here in Hawai‘i, we know ‘at the end of the road there is ‘āina,’ the lessons from our ancestors will shape the future of our world.”