Environment
Publication: Who Are we Measuring and Modeling for? Supporting Multilevel Decision‐Making in Watershed Management
UHERO and an international partnership, ClimateWise, tackled the question of how hydrological ecosystem service information is actually used in decision making in watershed management programs. Linking hydrological monitoring and modeling efforts to actual user needs increases the relevance and uptake of these studies and has important implications for where researchers should focus their energy. As […]
Read MoreEnvironmental market design for large-scale marine conservation
It is commonly agreed that marine conservation should expand considerably around the world. However, most countries have not yet implemented large-scale no-take Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). When a country closes a large fraction of its waters to fishing, it stands to lose a considerable level of fishery revenue. Although biodiversity and spillover fishing benefits may far exceed […]
Read MoreContributions of native forest protection to local water supplies in East Maui
Tropical forests provide a suite of benefits including biodiversity, cultural value, and a range of ecosystem services. Globally, there is increasing interest in incentivizing native forest protection as a multi-benefit natural infrastructure strategy to secure clean and ample water supplies. In addition to conversion to agriculture and other non-forest land uses, non-native species invasion represents […]
Read MoreForest protection provides important cost savings to water utility on Maui
By Leah Bremer Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization and Water Resources Research Center partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi to evaluate how native forest conservation contributes to local water supplies in a water stressed area in East Maui. They found that by preventing the degradation of native forest, conservation efforts […]
Read MoreSubmarine Groundwater Discharge: Updates on Its Measurement Techniques, Geophysical Drivers, Magnitudes, and Effects
The number of studies concerning Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) grew quickly as we entered the twenty-first century. Many hydrological and oceanographic processes that drive and influence SGD were identified and characterized during this period. These processes included tidal effects on SGD, water and solute fluxes, biogeochemical transformations through the subterranean estuary, and material transport via […]
Read MoreCharacterizing Hawai‘i’s Natural Resources Management Sector
This report provides an update to the 2015 “Recent Trends in Hawai‘i’s Green Economy: Agriculture, Energy, and Natural Resource Management” publication, the second update since our original report in 2012. Hawai‘i’s natural resource management jobs were at least 4,697 in 2018, 33% higher than reported for 2014, which is equivalent to an annual growth rate […]
Read MorePlace-based management can reduce human impacts on coral reefs in a changing climate
Declining natural resources have contributed to a cultural renaissance across the Pacific that seeks to revive customary ridge-to-reef management approaches to protect freshwater and restore abundant coral reef fisheries. We applied a linked land–sea modeling framework based on remote sensing and empirical data, which couples groundwater nutrient export and coral reef models at fine spatial […]
Read MoreRecovery of Lost Nexus Synergy via Payment for Environmental Services in Kumamoto, Japan
The objective of this study is to characterize and quantify the “trans-spatial nexus synergy” benefit of subsidized water ponding in the water-energy-food nexus in Kumamoto, Japan. After years of decreased rice production in upstream areas and associated declines in groundwater levels, the Kumamoto city government implemented a subsidy program whereby farmers in the Shira River […]
Read MoreBiocultural Restoration Workday Draws Community Together to Plant an Agroforest
By Zoe Hastings, Mahealani Botelho, and Leah Bremer 1 “I ola ʽoe, i ola mākou nei.” A community member recites the pule (blessing), “my life is dependent on yours, your life is dependent on mine”, to a native aʽaʽliʽi shrub as she gently tucks them into the ground. The side of the ridge is a […]
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