Kawaiholo o Kānewai a me Kalauhaʻihaʻi

Abstract

This University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Social-Ecological Systems Analysis of Natural Resource and Environmental Management class project developed an educational poster on the social-ecological dynamics of Kalauhaʻihaʻi and Kānewai, the last two remaining loko iʻa in Maunalua Bay, in collaboration with Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center (MFHC). These remnant wahi pana are testaments to the power of thriving social-ecological systems to be ʻāina momona (abundant food systems). Generations of colonization, land privatization, and urban development—including the Henry J. Kaiser Hawaiʻi Kai development in the 1960s and the 1990 Kalanianaʻole Highway expansion—severed freshwater flows, destroyed habitat, and disconnected cultural practices from place. Drawing on a constructivist epistemology that recognizes multiple knowledge systems as equally valid, we integrated peer-reviewed literature, grey literature, oral histories, and experiential community hana at MFHC workdays to synthesize a comprehensive understanding of the Kalauhaʻihaʻi and Kānewai SES. Using the Linked SES Framework (Biggs et al.), we explore the nested social-ecological relationships that connect watershed hydrology, loko iʻa ecosystem, keystone species, and community caretaking. We find that a participation and implementation gap (not a knowledge gap) currently constrains loko iʻa restoration, and that ʻāina education is a primary lever for closing it. We designed our poster to accompany teaching at the pond, centering ʻike kupuna while also highlighting biophysical processes. This work is part of the movement to cultivate the next generation of stewards of these wahi pana.