Perhaps unsurprisingly, the analysis demonstrated that no silver bullet solution exists. Hawai‘i has a set of conditions that create an extremely difficult environment for conservation in a changing climate. Sea level rise is imposing stresses on the places where humans live and the infrastructure on which they depend, causing prioritization of those elements in climate change adaptation over natural ecosystems. Hawai‘i is a generally high-cost market for goods and services, making climate change adaptation investment expensive. Ecosystems in Hawai‘i are small and highly individualized, making the ratio of human intervention to ecosystem breadth difficult. Endangered and threatened species counts in Hawai‘i are the highest in the nation, with invasive species playing a particularly damaging role. There are historic tensions among the federal, state, and local governments, including members of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, which can complicate already difficult conversations about which resources to protect first. State financial resources are thin, particularly given the ecosystem management needs; and there is a proliferation of stakeholders and the associated risk of friction between entities or duplication of effort. These are real problems, and in combination create an adaptation challenge unique to Hawai‘i. Overwhelmingly, organizations said three main barriers held them back: a) a lack of resources generally, leading to not enough people hours and an inability to take the time to create a real strategic plan; b) a lack of actionable information; and c) a lack of clarity about the standards for effective climate change adaptation. While it is important to recognize that these are all real challenges, they are also needs without end - there will always be reasons to not act due to resource or information inadequacy or the absence of surety about what the right standard for action is. The question is how to create conditions where those barriers are seen, if not quite surmountable, at least not so formidable as to preclude thoughtful, informed action that amplifies and/or builds on the actions of others.
