Overview

The Hawaiian Islands, from the seashores to the mountain peaks, are home to unique species facing a number of stresses. Climate change, coupled with widespread threats such as invasive species and land use changes, is impacting these resources and the ecosystem services upon which over 1.4 million people rely. How can natural and cultural resource managers in Hawaiʻi get ahead of these growing impacts? The Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC) partnership created the Hawaiian Islands Terrestrial Adaptation Initiative (HITAI) in 2014 as a response to this pressing question.

The purpose of the HITAI is to facilitate climate adaptation throughout the Main Hawaiian Islands. The HITAI provides targeted science, communication, and evaluation products and services to resource managers and decision makers. The initiative has been driven by management needs, and its products were developed in partnership with science, policy, natural and cultural resource conservation, and communications experts. More than 300 individuals within Hawaiʻi have actively participated in and shaped the HITAI.

This story map highlights four HITAI projects that provide a wealth of information freely available for your organization’s climate adaptation planning and management activities.