“Kūlia i ka Huliau – Transforming our Economy” – Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer & John De Fries
Kūlia i ka Huliau – Transforming our Economy
Over the last year and a half, we all experienced profound changes to our daily lives caused by the global pandemic. With a near complete halt to travel, the economic driver of our contemporary economy, tourism, was practically suspended for a good portion of 2020. For the first time in many residents’ lives, we experienced our home without crowds and tourists. We witnessed changes in our natural environments as human pressure on biocultural resources eased. At the same time, many were pushed into an even more precarious financial position as businesses were forced to shrink dramatically and even close. Now, as the State reopens, the pressures of tourism are quickly returning even as we are still understanding the short and long term impacts of the pandemic closures.
Over the last year and a half, the many leaders and community members in Hawaiʻi quickly stepped up to offer visions for our economic future grounded in Hawaiian and place-based values. The ʻAina Aloha Economic Futures Declaration helped to spur and organize community conversation around specific ideas to realize our visions for the future. As a part of its 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority produced Destination Management Action Plans that focus on addressing the communities’ needs on each island – a significant shift for an agency that once focused heavily on tourism promotion.
We would like to invite you to join two local leaders, Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer of the University of Hawaiʻi Richardson School of Law and the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, and John De Fries, President and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority as they discuss the ways in which we can and must transform our economy if we are to realize the vision of the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance – thriving, abundant lands and seas with their native ecosystems actively cared for by generations of stewards, steered by excellent science and Hawaiian values and practice.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY – Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer
Kamanamaikalani Beamer, PhD, is a full professor in the Hui ʻĀina Momona Program at the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa. He serves a dual appointment in the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge and in the William S. Richardson School of Law as part of Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law. Dr. Beamer’s research interests and publications focus on indigenous agency, governance, Native Hawaiian land tenure, Hawaiian resource management, and land and resource law of the Hawaiian Kingdom. For the past five years, Dr. Beamer has been researching the Circular Economy (CE) in partnership with colleagues from the University of Augsburg. This international knowledge exchange has guided recent work exploring how aloha ʻāina as an indigenous philosophy, and the CE as a modern economic approach, can inform each other in enacting systemic economic change and transitioning to sustainable societies.
Dr. Beamer is one of the fourteen co-founders of ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures (AAEF), an initiative with the goal of uplifting Hawaiian values to guide economic recovery efforts. By prioritizing community-centered engagement, AAEF has advised economic development strategies centered around aloha ʻāina since April 2020. In June 2021, he concluded two consecutive terms as a Commissioner on the State Water Resource Management Commission. After eight years of service, accomplishments include the restoration of water for forty-six streams across Hawaiʻi. In August 2021, Dr. Beamer will begin serving a five-year appointment as the inaugural Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature and the Environment. In this position, he will advance aloha ʻāina locally–and at an international level–through food systems and waste, water resources, and Circular Economies. This will include mentorship, research, policy, and community partnerships.
He has previously served as president and chief executive officer of The Kohala Center, director of ‘Āina-Based Education at Kamehameha Schools, and director of Stanford University’s First Nations Futures Institute. In addition to numerous academic publications, in 2014 Beamer published No Mākou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation, which received multiple awards including the Samuel M. Kamakau Book of the Year Award from the Hawai‘i Book Publishing Association.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY – John De Fries
John De Fries was appointed as president and chief executive officer of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) on September 16, 2020. HTA is the State of Hawai‘i agency responsible for strategically managing its support of the tourism industry. Its mission is to manage Hawai‘i tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with economic goals, cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires and visitor industry needs.
Born and raised in Waikīkī, De Fries was raised by family elders steeped in Hawaiian culture. He has more than 40 years of professional experience in the tourism and resort development industries. His recent visitor industry experience includes serving as executive director of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association. He is also president and principal advisor for Native Sun Business Group, a business consulting and project management firm focused on Hawai‘i’s hospitality and real estate development industries.
De Fries previously led the Department of Research and Development for the County of Hawai‘i, a division responsible for stimulating economic growth in sectors including tourism, agriculture and renewable energy. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO of Hōkūli‘a, a luxury residential community on Hawai‘i Island.
De Fries serves as an advisor and board member to many community organizations, including the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, the Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Memorial Committee, Bishop Museum, Hawaiʻi Green Growth, Friends of the Future, the Keāhole Center for Sustainability, and Kualoa Ranch.
In recent years, De Fries has been a part of rare gatherings in Hawaiʻi that highlight opportunities for leadership in sustainable living, human rights, and embracing native intelligence. He has engaged with His Holiness the Dalai Lama; members of the Rapid Evaluation Team from Google X; Gro Harlem Brundtland, the first female prime minister of Norway; Hina Jilani, a renowned lawyer, pro-democracy campaigner, and a leading activist in Pakistan’s women’s movement; Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, South Africa; and New Zealand’s Sir Sidney Moko Mead, Ph.D., who created the country’s first department of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.
