Established in 2021 after years of conversations with community stewardship practitioners across the state and through a unique partnership between the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance, Kamehameha Schools, and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, the Ahupuaʻa Accelerator Intiative (AAI) was created to address express needs in ahupuaʻa restoration focusing, in particular, on community and culturally centered efforts that bridge terrestrial and marine stewardship, conservation, and restoration. The AAI aims to advance conservation efforts across Hawai‘i by appropriate accelerating the enabling conditions for ahupuaʻa restoration and by illuminating potential pathways to advance community and culturally-centered restoration efforts in present-day contexts. The AAI’s core activities enable and support systems-oriented and holistic approaches to resource management, improved environmental outcomes, shared models of practice, and strengthened partnerships between all involved.
The AAI program works in close coordination with an initial network of six Site Partner ahupuaʻa across the state: Kaʻūpūlehu (Hawaiʻi Island), Polanui (Maui), Kawela (Molokaʻi), Kahoʻolawe, Heʻeia (Oʻahu), and Hāʻena (Kauaʻi). We also work closely with a cross-sector, collaborative community of practice broadly encompassing stewardship, conservation, resource management, and community-based practitioners.
AAI Peer-to-peer Learning Cohort
In 2022, the Ahupuaʻa Accelerator Initiative (AAI) convened a Peer-to-peer Learning Cohort, bringing together 15 community stewardship practitioners from the six AAI Site Partner ahupuaʻa across the paeʻāina. With support of their home sites, representatives met monthly from April through November for a series of deep-dive thematic explorations covering topics including:
- Sustainable finance, revenue generation, and value(s) add
- Government partnerships and collaborations
- Information and data management, storage, and sharing
- Connecting with diverse sectors and user groups to advance restoration
- Connecting ma uka (terrestrial) and ma kai (marine) restoration efforts
- Legacy planning
Cohort representatives participated in over 100hrs of discussion, exchange, and capacity development activities including project planning, prioritization, implementation, and professional networking. The 2022 Peer Cohort yielded a number of site- and systems-focused outcomes. Select public-facing outcomes are forthcoming in 2023.
