Malia K. H. Akutagawa

• Philosophy, B.A., Biology, B.A., Juris Doctor J.D.
• Associate Professor at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

This community case study explores how Kīpuka Kuleana, a Native Hawaiian women-led community-based land trust, revitalizes relationships between people and ʻāina (lands and waters) to perpetuate cultural practices that build climate resilience in Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. We demonstrate that ancestral land protection is foundational to climate change mitiga...

Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) around the world are increasingly asserting ‘Indigenous agency’ to engage with government institutions and other partners to collaboratively steward ancestral Places. Case studies in Hawai‘i suggest that ‘community-driven collaborative management’ is a viable and robust pathway for IPLCs to lead in t...

The Hawaiʻi State legislature recognized that over the course of Hawaiʻi’s colonial history, Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians) have endured multiple threats to their culture, language, ʻāina (lands), and right to self-determination. One of the effects of western colonialism has been a rejection of ʻŌiwi land management and governance that was place-b...

Drawing on childhood memories of fishing on the shores of Molokaʻi, Native Hawaiian legal scholar Malia Akutagawa, paints a vivid picture of the intimate relationship that Native Hawaiian families hold with the ocean. Through close continued observation of the marine landscape and careful management of its resources, families like Akutagawa's were...

A cruise ship slipped unannounced into Molokai’s Kaunakakai Harbor one quiet morning in October, 2011 with thirty-some malihini (tourists). They hiked to Hālawa Falls, snorkelled and kayaked along uncrowded beaches that also serve as prized fishing grounds for a predominantly Native Hawaiian population relying on traditional, subsistence livelihood...

Through research, restoration of agro-ecological sites, and a renaissance of cultural awareness in Hawaiʻi, there has been a growing recognition of the ingenuity of the Hawaiian biocultural resource management system. The contemporary term for this system, “the ahupuaʻa system”, does not accurately convey the nuances of system function, and it inhi...

The National Climate Assessment The Global Change Research Act of 1990 man- dates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that “1) integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program . . .; 2) analyzes the effects of global change on the natur...

Conservation International Foundation - Hawaiʻi (CI) commissioned a series of reports to aid in determining the feasibility of a statewide adoption of a comprehensive fisheries licensing program that would ultimately contribute to protection, regulatory enforcement, enhancement and restoration of Hawaiʻi's precious marine resources. This evaluati...

Final Rules of Practice and Procedure of the ʻAha Moku Advisory Committee The passage of the ʻAha Moku legislation in Hawaiʻi acknowledged the value of Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) knowledge passed down by the kupuna (ancestors) and the expertise of cultural practitioners experienced in farming and fishing in sustainable ways. In order to bring...

Hawai‘i State law provides pathways for island communities to apply for the designation of Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFAs), allowing for co- management of culturally significant and/or ecologically vulnerable nearshore fisheries by the state and local communities. In the early 1990s residents of the Island of Moloka‘i expressed c...

Over the years, the people of Manaʻe (East Molokaʻi) have witnessed a notable decline in the health of their watershed. A significant part of this declining health is the degradation of the mauka (mountain) native forests, which has subsequently had a drastic effect on all of the ahupuaʻa (traditional land divisions) of Manaʻe, from mauka (mountain...

This Energy Assessment for the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi is part of Sustʻāinable Molokaʻi's Molokaʻi-pedia Project which is designed to create stronger community networks; inform key stakeholders; increase equity and access to public and private partnerships and resources; and to serve as a tool for citizen empowerment by mobilizing our people of...

This primer provides an introduction to the laws governing iwi kūpuna (ancestral bones) for those wanting to better understand their rights and the overall legal and cultural landscape affecting iwi (bones). The primer summarizes major Hawaiʻi State and federal laws and issues, and directs those with additional questions to available resources, leg...

This Agriculture Needs Assessment for the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi is part of Sustʻāinable Molokaʻi's Molokaʻi-pedia Project which is designed to create stronger community networks; inform key stakeholders; increase equity and access to public and private partnerships and resources; and to serve as a tool for citizen empowerment by mobilizing ou...

In light of longstanding challenges to our ʻāina (land), cultural traditions, and lifestyle, community members joined together to articulate a vision for the future of Molokai. The process was innovate yet organic, bringing together individuals from different generations and with ʻike (knowledge) from a wide range of sources. The emerging document...

A culture system for the commercial production of the seaweed Gracilaria parvispora using shrimp-farm effluents for fertilization and floating cage-culture for grow-out has been developed on Molokai, HI. This two-phase system produces high-quality products for direct human consumption. The mean relative growth rates (RGRs) of effluent-enriched thal...

The factors controlling the growth of the edible, red seaweed, Gracilaria parvispora Abbott (long ogo), on the south reef of Molokai, HI, were investigated to determine where productive new plantings could be located. Experiments were conducted in October, 1997, and March and June, 1998, in which G. parvispora biomass production was correlated with...

This report is part of the Kahoʻolawe Cultural Resources Study relating to contemporary cultural practices regarding fishing and other uses. This report documents contemporary Native Hawaiian fishing rights, practices and uses in the offshore and inshore waters of Kahoʻolawe in the post-1941 period. It also documents contemporary cultural relations...

In February 1993, Governor John Waiheʻe appointed the Molokaʻi Subsistence Task Force to document how important subsistence is to Molokaʻi families and how much of the families' food comes from subsistence. The task force was also asked to determine the problems which were making it harder to do subsistence fishing, hunting, and gathering on Moloka...