Environmental Policy and Planning Group
The UHERO Environmental & Policy Planning Group partners with government, non-profit, business, and community groups to address Hawaiʻi’s key environmental policy challenges. To do so we employ a diverse set of interdisciplinary methods and tools to study the interconnection between human and natural systems with the purpose of contributing to more effective decision making. We specifically work in the linked areas of water, energy, food systems, watersheds, and coastlines, where an overarching theme is how to mitigate and adapt to land use and climate change and their effects on these systems.

Puʻulani: Biocultural restoration of agroforestry in Heʻeia, Oʻahu
By Leah Bremer, Zoe Hastings, Maile Wong, and Tamara Ticktin Puʻulani (heavenly ridge) sits above the loʻi kalo (taro patches) that Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, a community-based

Time for A Carbon Tax for Hawaii?
By James Mak and Erik Haites Hawaii’s constitution requires a Tax Review Commission (TRC) be appointed every five years to review the state’s tax/revenue system.

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

An 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

VOG – Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Pollutants on Learning Outcomes
By Rachel Inafuku. Joint research with Tim Halliday, Lester Lusher and Aureo de Paula. Introduction While an extensive number of studies have shown that pollution

Non-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