Lauhala: Weaving Knowledges and Practices with a Climate Resilient and Culturally Significant Plant on Hawaiʻi Island

Principal Investigator: Noa Lincoln

Dates

Release Date: 2023
Start Date: 2023-09-01
End Date: 2025-08-31

Summary

Hala is a much-loved plant by Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and lauhala weavers, yet native coastal forests of hala are now considered rare in Hawaiʻi. Research on climate resilience indicates that hala has the potential to mitigate storm surges and act as a barrier between salt spray and crops growing near the shoreline. To provide opportunities for natural and cultural resource managers and practitioners on Hawaiʻi Island, more information is needed about hala’s species diversity distribution, role in ecosystems, and ongoing preservation efforts across the island, as well as hala’s historical and current uses as food, medicine, natural fibers and oils. This project will bring together experts within diverse knowledge systems [...]

Summary

Hala is a much-loved plant by Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and lauhala weavers, yet native coastal forests of hala are now considered rare in Hawaiʻi. Research on climate resilience indicates that hala has the potential to mitigate storm surges and act as a barrier between salt spray and crops growing near the shoreline. To provide opportunities for natural and cultural resource managers and practitioners on Hawaiʻi Island, more information is needed about hala’s species diversity distribution, role in ecosystems, and ongoing preservation efforts across the island, as well as hala’s historical and current uses as food, medicine, natural fibers and oils.

This project will bring together experts within diverse knowledge systems to research, co-learn, explore cultural, economic, social, and ecological aspects of hala and its relevance for climate resilience. Experts include scientists, researchers, natural and cultural resource managers, cultural practitioners, educators, students, and artists, all of whom have relationships with hala. Through co-learning sessions over 24 months, the project team will respectfully engage with several hala groves on the island which are being preserved and/or reforested. The team will collaboratively co-create research, conservation and education projects, and art and communication products that bridge diverse but complementary knowledge systems and integrate important contributions of often marginalized knowledge, such as indigenous and creative practices.

Anticipated outcomes from this project include: 1) maps of hala groves on Hawaiʻi Island, including information about threats and opportunities for reforestation; 2) a report consolidating the knowledge systems, methods, and practices of hala stewardship, reforestation and preservation, and sustainable use of hala products; 3) multimedia outputs including a website, documentary film, and art exhibit highlighting hala’s potential role in climate resilience, and cultural, economic, social, and ecological (re)generation; 4) an emergent collaboration with potential for future projects.

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Contacts

Principal Investigator :: Noa Lincoln
Co-Investigator :: Udi Butler, Ku Kahakalau
Cooperator/Partner :: Mia Akau-LaClair, Melanie Willich, Kelly Teamey, Anianikū Chong, Annamarie Kon, Ka Ulu Lauhala o Kona, Charles Fletcher, Mary Babcock, Emily Leucht, Marques Marzan, Rachel Laderman
Funding Agency :: Pacific Islands CASC
CMS Group :: Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC) Program

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hala.jpg “Hala tree Haleakala National Park. Jackie Frost, NPS. Public Domain.”		728.49 KB	image/jpeg

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Lauhala: Weaving Knowledges and Practices with a Climate Resilient and Culturally Significant Plant on Hawaiʻi Island

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