Environment

Good environmental policy requires understanding people

A forest, coral reef, rangeland or any other ecosystem does not necessarily provide the same benefits to everyone. A healthy forest can link to community well-being in multiple ways, including through deep ancestral and spiritual connections to place, increasing groundwater recharge for drinking or providing lei materials and medicinal products. A recent study demonstrates that […]

Charging Higher User Fees to Tourists at Hawaii’s State Parks

By James Mak “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono” [1] In May 2000 the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of State Parks began to charge $1 entrance fee per adult—tourist and local—who walked into the park to hike the iconic Diamond Head trail. A $5 entrance fee per […]

Publication: Increasing decision relevance of ecosystem service science

Congratulations to UHERO’s Leah Bremer on her publication in Nature Sustainability. To calculate the true value of a forest, we need to know how people benefit from it, according to new research published in Nature Sustainability. A healthy forest holds a treasure trove of benefits for people — it can filter water for downstream communities, […]

Project Description: Spatial Planning to Inform Expansion of Agroforestry for Cultural, Ecological & Economic Benefits

Agroforestry systems, along with loʻi kalo and other systems, were abundant in traditional Hawaiʻi, and there is great interest in their restoration today. This project aims to improve understanding of current agroforestry systems and evaluate the costs and benefits of expanding restoration.

UHERO’s Nori Tarui giving the Keynote Speech at the Society for Environmental and Economic Studies 2020 Annual Conference (in Japanese).

Rooftop solar is now competitive with utility-scale power in Hawaiʻi

By Michael Roberts We need to transition away from fossil fuels quickly, and with inexpensive renewables and batteries, we can do so in a cost effective manner, so long as we employ a sensible plan and the right policies. But what are the tradeoffs involved with how we do it? In most places, rooftop solar […]

What goes around comes around: Export-enhancing effects of import-tariff reductions

In international trade, transportation requires a round trip for which a transport firm has to commit to shipping capacity that is sufficient to meet the maximum shipping volume. This may cause the “backhaul problem.” Trade theory suggests that, facing the problem, transport firms with market power adjust their freight rates strategically when import tariffs change. As a […]

Optimal multi-instrument management of interrelated resources and a groundwater dependent ecosystem

We develop and operationalize an integrated groundwater and watershed management model using data from the Kīholo aquifer on the west coast of Hawai’i Island. Results from a numerical simulation suggest that investment in fencing (passive management) is preferred to invasive species removal (active management) if we are limited to selecting a single conservation tool. However, […]

Groundwater sustainability: A review of the interactions between science and policy

Concerns over groundwater depletion and ecosystem degradation have led to the incorporation of the concept of groundwater sustainability as a groundwater policy instrument in several water codes and management directives worldwide. Because sustainable groundwater management is embedded within integrated, co-evolving hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic systems, implementing such policies remains a challenge for water managers and […]