Leah Bremer
Investing in nature-based solutions: Cost profiles of collective-action watershed investment programs
Abstract: Worldwide, an increasing number of watershed management programs invest in nature-based solutions (NbS) to water security challenges. Yet, NbS for water security currently are deployed at well below their hypothesized cost-effective global potential, with uncertainty about costs identified as one key constraint on increased investment. Data on administrative and transaction costs of watershed investment […]
Read MoreAn environmental justice perspective on ecosystem services
UHERO Environment is part of an international collaboration focused on addressing environmental justice in ecosystem services research and practice. Their new publication in Ambio, “An environmental justice perspective on ecosystem services,” explores challenges and opportunities in incorporating multiple dimensions of justice into ecosystem services. Abstract: Mainstreaming of ecosystem service approaches has been proposed as one […]
Read MoreNon-native fallows hold high potential for restoration through agroforestry in a Pacific Island ecosystem
Abstract: Agricultural land abandonment affects millions of hectares of cultivated lands globally. While ending cultivation can lead to spontaneous reforestation and ecological benefits, the resulting landscapes often have lower social and agricultural benefits than the native forests and agricultural systems they replace, especially when non-native species dominate successional pathways. This is the case in many […]
Read MoreSocial and Cultural values of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems in Kona
By Veronica Gibson, Leah Bremer, Kimberly Burnett, Nicole Keakaonaaliʻi Lui, and Celia Smith “I think about the anchialine pools and the significance of the anchialine pools and how, if you have anchialine pools in your ahupuaʻa, especially in a place like North Kona, Kekaha Wai ʻOle,… you’re considered very wealthy” ~ anchialine pool resource manager […]
Read MoreBiocultural values of groundwater dependent ecosystems in Kona, Hawaiʻi
New UHERO Environmental Policy and Planning Group study, led by UHERO/WRRC/Botany graduate student Veronica Gibson, illuminates social and cultural values of groundwater dependent ecosystems in Kona, Hawaiʻi.
Read MorePerspectives from communities threatened by sea-level rise
“Amid the growing threat of sea-level rise and coastal erosion of oceanfront communities around the world, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers delved deeper into the response for coastal communities on Oʻahu. A recent survey of stakeholders discovered that what most respondents felt was currently important did not always match with what they felt should […]
Read MoreManaging for diverse coastal uses and values under sea level rise: perspectives from O’ahu, Hawaiʻi
Effective and equitable coastal decision-making under sea level rise requires managing for multiple coastal uses and values. A new publication led by UHERO’s Environmental Policy and Planning Group analyzes how decision-makers in Hawaiʻi perceive diverse uses and values of beaches and coastlines to be important and how they see recognition of these uses and values ideally shaping […]
Read MoreManaging for diverse coastal uses and values under sea level rise: perspectives from Oʻahu
By Leah Bremer, Makena Coffman, Alisha Summers, Lisa Kelley, and Billy Kinney “That whole experience of bonding, the family, the fresh air, that’s so critical. And we’ve lost a lot of that. As we lose the beaches, we lose that part of our culture, which is Hawaiʻi’s culture. Whether it’s a barbecue… or spend [ing] […]
Read MoreRestoring Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity through Cost-Effective and Resilient Agroforestry Systems
Since September 2018, our project team, composed of University of Hawai‘i faculty and students, Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi staff, and other partners have worked together to: 1) design, implement, and monitor 10 agroforestry demonstration plots and buffer areas in He‘eia, O‘ahu (objective 1); 2) publish peer-review and practitioner-oriented material on agroforestry, functional traits, and ecosystem services (objective […]
Read More