Many beachgoers may be familiar with a small, low-lying islet in Kāneʻohe bay on Oʻahu. Its Hawaiian name is Moku o Loʻe, and it's home to the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, which is now facing the threat of rising sea levels.
That’s why HIMB has released its Mālama ʻĀina Plan, which guides how the islet will adapt to climate change.
Rather than fortify itself with seawalls, the plan proposes building flood-adapted spaces that can serve as habitats for birds and even outdoor classrooms to promote sea creature study.
HPR spoke with HIMB Director Megan Donahue, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa landscape architect Phoebe White and HIMB Associate Professor Kawika Winter to learn more about the plan and how Indigenous knowledge was foundational to its development.
Interview Highlights
On developing the plan from Indigenous knowledge
PHOEBE WHITE: The first phase really involved a lot of background research on the site in multiple formats. We did a ton of archival research in the Bishop Museum archives, and also we did several guided tours looking at the island through different lenses. …
It contextualized for us the eight considerations of pono stewardship. We worked a lot with Kawika and Megan to create the next phase, the second phase of the project, which was all about community engagement— not just staff and faculty and students at HIMB, but also cultural practitioners who have a long and even ancestral ties to Moku o Loʻe. The communities we work with and collaborate with, they are the experts on place, right? So I think in any project it's really important to take time to listen to what people feel about the place, their ties to it, what vision they have.
KAWIKA WINTER: The problem is our severed relationship to nature. And so we try to heal and mend that relationship, and we bring people back, we revive Indigenous lifeways that are at the foundation of these relationships.
On a template for the future
MEGAN DONAHUE: The Mālama ʻĀina plan for Moku o Loʻe is a way of us kind of envisioning the future and envisioning a future for this island, but also for testing out a new process and new technologies for coastal resilience. So you've heard a lot about the Indigenous framework that led the process and that helped us to take on this planning in a really holistic way for the island and to think about not just sustaining the research and education mission of the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, but in fact to ensure that our local community and cultural practitioners feel welcome, and taking seriously our kuleana to the island that we have the privilege to care for.
WINTER: The Mālama ʻĀina plan for Moku o Loʻe takes one of the smallest islands and made a plan for it. And with that plan will provide a template for how other islands in Hawaiʻi, in Oceania, in the world can start to think about preparing for these changes because they're coming. So the communities that have a plan in place are the ones that are going to be more resilient, more robust, and more prepared to build back when that climate disaster happens.
More information about the HIMB Mālama ʻĀina plan can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on May 20, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
