Nathan DeMaagd

Carbon Benefits of Agroforestry Transitions on Fallow Agricultural Lands – New UHERO Environment publication in Scientific Reports

February 13, 2025

New UHERO Environment publication in Scientific Reports demonstrates important carbon benefits of transitioning fallow agricultural lands into varying agroforestry systems across Hawaiʻi. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-87891-y

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Carbon benefits through agroforestry transitions on unmanaged fallow agricultural land in Hawaiʻi

February 12, 2025

There are growing efforts to incorporate agroforestry into ecosystem service incentive programs. Indigenous and other place-based multi-strata agroforestry systems are important conservation and agricultural strategies, yet their ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration benefits, have received little research attention. To fill this gap, we draw on interviews with agroforestry practitioners and ecosystem service modeling in Hawaiʻi […]

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Social, economic, and health impacts of the Red Hill fuel spill: preliminary survey results

January 18, 2024

By Leah Bremer, Tara Sutton, Ruben Juarez, Nicole Siegal, Nathan DeMaagd *University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO), Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), Department of Geography and Environment, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. BackgroundOn November 20, 2021 the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility leaked approximately 19,000 gallons of jet fuel into the Pearl Harbor […]

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Tourism water use during the COVID-19 shutdown: A natural experiment in Hawai‘i

September 28, 2022

By Nathan DeMaagd, Peter Fuleky, Kimberly Burnett, and Christopher Wada A recent study published in the Annals of Tourism Research used the shutdown of tourism in Hawai‘i during the COVID-19 pandemic to shed light on the relationship between tourism and water use on O‘ahu. The importance of water management is accentuated when there is near […]

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Publication: Tourism water use during the COVID-19 shutdown: A natural experiment in Hawai‘i

Abstract: Many popular tourist destinations are on small islands whose resources are in limited supply, and the effects of climate change and burgeoning tourism tend to worsen the outlook. In this study, we identify the relationship between tourism and water use on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu. Hawai‘i closed almost entirely to tourism during the […]

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Priority watershed management areas for groundwater recharge and drinking water protection: a case study from Hawai‘i Island

May 15, 2021

Worldwide, water utilities and other water users increasingly seek to finance watershed protection and restoration in order to maintain or enhance water quality and quantity important for drinking water supply and other human use. Hydrologic studies which characterize the relative effectiveness of watershed management activities in terms of metrics important to water users are greatly […]

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Publication: How Will Climate Change Affect Water Demand? Evidence from Hawai‘i Microclimates

January 1, 2021

The effect that climate change will have on water resource sustainability is gaining international interest, particularly in regions where stocks are strained due to changing climate and increasing populations. Past studies focus mainly on how water availability will be affected by climate change, with little attention paid to how consumer behavior is likely to react. […]

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Estimating water demand using price differences of wastewater services

July 27, 2020

Many homes in Hawai‘i use cesspools and other on-site disposal systems (OSDS) instead of the municipal sewer system. Because bills combine water and waste-water services, and homes with OSDS do not pay for sewer service, OSDS residences have lower monthly bills compared to those with sewer-connected systems. We use this price difference in conjunction with […]

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How Will Climate Change Affect Water Demand? Evidence from Hawai‘i Microclimates

The effect that natural hazard resilience will have on water resource sustainability is gaining international interest, particularly in regions where stocks are strained due to changing climate and increasing populations. Past studies focus mainly on how water availability will be affected by natural hazard resilience, with little attention paid to how consumer behavior is likely […]

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