The Trump administration is proposing several changes to the Endangered Species Act that conservationists say could have consequences for Hawaiʻi's biodiversity.
The act offers protections for the nation’s most vulnerable plants and animals. Nearly 490 species found in Hawaiʻi are recognized as either endangered or threatened under the act.
The Department of the Interior proposed new rules to the ESA in late November that would allow the federal government to take into account economic factors when deciding to list a new species or designate critical habitat for a protected species.
If those rules are adopted, the government would be able to consider whether potential revenue from activities like developing a parcel of native forest into a hotel outweighs the benefits of preserving the land for a rare species.
The proposed changes would also narrow the circumstances under which critical habitat could be designated for a listed species.
That move could impact some of Hawaiʻi’s most recognizable species, including the ʻiʻiwi, according to Noah Greenwald with the Center for Biological Diversity.
ʻIʻiwi were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2017, but the federal government has yet to designate critical habitat for the endemic honeycreeper.
Under the new rules, only species that are primarily threatened by habitat destruction may get critical habitat designations, Greenwald said.
That could leave species like the ʻiʻiwi, which is primarily threatened by avian malaria and climate change, without protection.
"You just really can't save species from extinction without saving the places that they live," Greenwald said.
The public comment period on the proposed rule changes is open until Dec. 22.
