Restoration of Hawaiian Tropical Dry Forests: A Biocultural Approach

Abstract

Worldwide, tropical dry forests are among the most endangered of all tropical forest ecosystems, and tropical dry forests once represented the greatest species diversity among forest types in Hawaiʻi. Current research shows that the extent of native tropical dry forest cover in Hawaiʻi may be as low as 1% of its original cover, with 45% of the tropical dry forest plant species at risk of endangerment. Despite the historical and current relationship of these forests with the wao kanaka (lower elevation human settlement zones), there has been little evaluation on the social-ecological outcomes of a biocultural approach to tropical dry forest restoration. Two forest restoration projects located within Kaʻūpūlehu and Auwahi, have excluded ungulates and removed alien plant species, and have used biocultural approaches to restoration. Drawing on these two sites as case-studies, this thesis discusses the motivations for, and components of a biocultural approach, provides a measure of the ecological success using a case-study of biocultural restoration at Kaʻūpūlehu, and includes an assessment on the status of tropical dry forest restoration projects across Hawaiʻi. This multidisciplinary study shows that the ecological success of the forest is directly interlinked with the social benefits of restoration, and I recommend that conservation and restoration efforts in Hawaiʻi should foster and recognize the continued relationship between the kaiaulu (human community) and kaiaola (ecosystem) of tropical dry forests.