An “information cyberinfrastructure” was developed at UH Mānoa for The Kohala Center and Kahalu‘u which will provide storage of data resources and authenticated user accessibility through a Portal. This portal contains water, weather and cultural resources, and Kohala Center resources such as Citizen Data and ReefTeach data.
To access this portal, go to http://hbmpweb.pbrc.hawaii.edu/tkc/
To enter the portal as a visitor, enter:
User name: visitor
Password: welcome
Program Background
The Kohala Center is working with the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and its research agency partners in a project funded by the National Science Foundation which will improve capacity and infrastructure to address climate change impact scenarios on Hawai‘i’s and Alaska’s water resources.
The Kohala Center has established a strong community network to promote conservation and restoration efforts at Kahalu‘u through public outreach, educational efforts, and applied and basic research. With TKC as a community-based center for research and education and as a community-based partner, the University of Hawai‘i can work effectively toward meeting the needs of various constituencies, including Native Hawaiian cultural and business organizations, local government, and local schools, to preserve and enhance the natural environment as a critically important intellectual, educational, cultural, and economic resource.
An important goal of UH Mānoa’s NSF Project is to develop a “model system” for improving the capacity of local, island communities to sustainably manage the natural resources contained within their ahupua‘a (i.e., mountain-to-sea systems). While the Project at Kahalu‘u is focused on water resources, the management capacity developed may be extended to address a broad range of long-term social-ecological concerns such as visitor impact on coastal resources, long-range sustainable development, coral reef and biodiversity conservation, etc. The driving force behind this effort must be prominent members of the local community who are not only the most knowledgeable about the ahupua‘a and its resources, but who will remain on the land to deal with the long-term consequences of management and economic decisions made on ahupua‘a resources.
The initial project focus was to develop the information framework and technology needed to understand the freshwater cycle in the Kahalu‘u ahupua‘a. This will establish a vehicle for translating a local and informed perspective of water resources in the ahupua‘a into practical tools useful for understanding its sources and movement from the mauka forested lands through subterranean systems to the Kona coast where it appears in various surface water features. The technologies developed will remain with the Kahalu‘u community and serve as a resource for monitoring, management, and decision-making.