Water Resources
A Linked Land-Sea Modeling Framework to Inform Ridge-to-Reef Management in High Oceanic Islands
Declining natural resources have led 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. Effective ridge-to-reef management requires improved understanding of land-sea linkages and decision-support tools to simultaneously evaluate the effects of terrestrial and marine drivers on coral reefs, mediated […]
Read MoreBringing multiple values to the table in local decision making – NSF Coastal SEES
By Leah Bremer “Want to carry one up?” the natural resource management team with Limahuli gardens in Haʻēna, Kauaʻi asks us as they hand out potted endangered plant seedlings before our hike up the trail toward one of their native forest restoration areas. We arrive 30 minutes later to the first restoration plot and are […]
Read MoreJoint Management of an Interconnected Coastal Aquifer and Invasive Tree
Kiawe (Prosopis pallida), a mesquite tree considered invasive in many parts of the world including Hawai‘i, has been shown to reduce regional groundwater levels via deep taproots. In areas where aquifers are primary sources of fresh water, kiawe control has the potential to be an integral component of water management planning. We develop an analytical […]
Read MoreEstimating Cost-Effectiveness of Hawaiian Dry Forest Restoration Using Spatial Changes in Water Yield and Landscape Flammability Under Climate Change
Resource managers increasingly seek to implement cost-effective watershed restoration plans for multiple ecosystem service benefits. Using locally adapted ecosystem service tools and historical management costs, we quantified spatially explicit management costs and benefits (in terms of groundwater recharge and landscape flammability) to assist a state agency in evaluating cobenefits for a predefined restoration scenario (focused […]
Read MoreA review of the current state of research on the water, energy, and food nexus
The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the water, energy, and food nexus and regions of study, nexus keywords and stakeholders in order to understand the current state of nexus research. Through selected 37 projects, four types of nexus research were identified including water–food, water–energy–food, water–energy, and climate related. Among them, six […]
Read MoreWater, energy, and food security in the Asia Pacific region
Security measures of three resources; water, energy and food are analyzed for thirty two countries in the Asia Pacific region which are faced to Pacific Ocean, in terms of amounts of the resource, self-production, and diversity of sources of each resource. Diversity for all the three resources is also analyzed using surface water and groundwater for water […]
Read MoreThe economic value of groundwater in Obama
Obama City has a population of 33,000 and is located in the central Wakasa district, in southwest Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Groundwater is used aboveground year round for commercial and domestic purposes and during winter months to melt snow. Submarine groundwater discharge along the coast supports a nearshore fishery in the region. Results from a choice-based […]
Read MoreScience and Community Engagement to Improve Water Management in Hawaii
‘Ike Wai (from the Hawaiian ‘ike, meaning knowledge, and wai, meaning water) is a five-year National Science Foundation project. The multidisciplinary research team from UH Manoa and Hilo will collect new geophysical and groundwater data, integrate these data into detailed groundwater models, and generate an improved understanding of subsurface water location, volume and flow paths. […]
Read MoreBenefit-cost analysis of watershed conservation on Hawai‘i Island
In landscapes around the world, growing attention is being paid to the link between forest structure and water resources. More clarity is vital for informed decision making, especially as water scarcity continues to increase in many regions across the globe. The objective of this study is to estimate the volume of freshwater yield saved per […]
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