10 FEBRUARY • Pu‘uloa Plankton Party: Student Focused Coastal Research by Dr. Donn Viviani (Oceanography at Leeward Community College). Location: Zoom (register for Zoom here).
24 FEBRUARY • Mālama Pu‘uloa: Fostering Innovative Collaboration to Restore Pearl Harbor to Abundance by Ms. Sandy Ward (Executive Director for Hui o Ho‘ohonua 501(c)3 Community Non-Profit). Location: Zoom (register for Zoom here).
10 MARCH • An Engineering Solution to Restoring Wai: Kānewai Spring and Kalauha‘iha‘i Fishpond by Mr. Chris Cramer (Executive Director at Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center) and Ms. Hina Ioane (Chaminade University of Honolulu). Location:Zoom (register for Zoom here).
24 MARCH • Envisioning Water Security and Resilience in the Pacific: Lessons from Integrated Ridge to Reef Studies in American Samoa by Ms. Mia Comeros (Red Hill Research Project Coordinator, WRRC; University of Hawai‘i NREM) and Dr. Chris Shuler (WRRC Affiliate Faculty, Assistant Hydrologist). Location:Zoom (register for Zoom here).
7 APRIL • Dr. Eileen Nalley (Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health Specialist at University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant and Ms. Honour Booth (MS Student of UH Department of Chemistry)
21 APRIL • TBA
For more information about the Spring 2023 WRRC Seminars, please contact: Keri Kodama, kodamak8@hawaii.edu
If interested in joining the seminar, please contact: wrrc@hawaii.edu
Envisioning Water Security and Resilience in the Pacific: Lessons from Integrated Ridge to Reef Studies in American Samoa
Date: March 24, 2023 (2 pm, HST)
Speakers: Ms. Mia Comeros and Dr. Chris Shuler
Enhancing actionable science links to management of natural resources in island communities
is critically important given the strong land-sea connection, intrinsic vulnerability to terrestrial
runoff and climate change impacts, and high dependencies on highly valued natural capital in
nearshore coastal environments. Thus, science that translates and is operationalized into policy
to protect watershed and reef ecosystems is needed to address challenges of economic, water,
and food insecurity. On-top of this, Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands have
heightened vulnerability to interacting local and global stressors because of historical and
current chemical contamination from Department of Defense activities. Addressing these
challenges requires enhanced understanding of land-sea-people linkages and the processes
underpinning nearshore coral reef ecosystem function and services. Here we draw on lessons
from multiple ridge to reef studies in American Samoa in the last 10 years and highlight the
highly collaborative nature of research, partnership-building, and knowledge sharing. We
discuss the complexities of capturing the multiple and interacting drivers affecting coral reef
function and services at the island-scale, important hydrologic information needed to support
program planning, implementation, and evaluation at appropriate local context, and some of the
challenges to effective multi-level water resource management decision-making. We suggest
ways of increasing water science partnerships between American Samoa and Hawai’i to
address the broader challenges of water security preparedness and resilience in the Pacific.