Molokaʻi Wetland Partnership

Prioritizing restoration of coastal wetlands on Molokaʻi Storymap

Molokaʻi is the fifth most populated of the eight main islands that make up the Hawaiian archipelago. Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the island faces serious impacts from sea-level rise and has already experienced severe runoff and sedimentation from upland forest degradation. Coastal wetlands on the island have been degraded due to sedimentation, human alteration, and invasive species. Loʻipūnāwai (spring-fed irrigated agricultural pondfields), which were historically used to grow kalo (taro, a root vegetable), have been lost across the entire landscape except for a few scattered locations. Coastal wetlands are fundamentally important to Native Hawaiians—their function is inextricably intertwined...