About the Hawai‘i Island Summit
In a Troubled World It’s Time to Rethink, Revalue, Reframe
May 21 and 22, 2009 Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel
In collaboration with the County of Hawai‘i Department of Research and Development and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, The Kohala Center organized a meeting of public and private sector leaders to present a Long-Term Industrial Ecosystem Project for Hawai‘i Island.
This project builds on the fact that while knowledge about natural ecosystems continues to grow, much less is known about the interaction of human and natural systems. Yet the need to understand this interaction is critical as supplies of resources become constrained and the effects of resource use on human and environmental health become increasingly obvious. The project also builds on Hawai‘i Island’s value to the world, not only in terms of its unique natural assets, but also in terms of its economic and societal vulnerabilities, given the island’s high level of dependence on fossil fuels and imported food. As research scientists and policy experts have noted, Hawai‘i Island is the world’s “canary in the coal mine.”
The island is of further value because of its bounded and relatively small systems, in which the complex interaction of human society with energy, water, agricultural resources, and the flow of materials production and consumption can be measured and clarified. Indeed, as a research site, the Island of Hawai‘i is a model of a planet with finite resources. As such, our local solutions to the challenges we face at the intersection of human and natural systems are of global value. Thus, the Island of Hawai‘i becomes a model for the planet.
By launching the Long-Term Industrial Ecosystem Project on Hawai‘i Island, we will be able to engage in long-term research, perhaps two decades or more, that will provide public and private sector leaders, as well as island residents, with independent information and analyses of the highest quality that will help to guide us—and the world—into the future. Public policy and private investments can be developed in discussions that are rigorous and thoughtful, leading us into a future of durable economic, environmental, societal, and cultural prosperity.
The material in this Web site summarizes presentations delivered at the 2009 Hawai‘i Island Summit.