Richard and I stumbled upon this website by the non-profit group Pacific Worlds. The extensive site provides a thought-provoking look at many topics, including the idea of a modern ahupua’a, which Richard too has talked about.

From its site:

Pacific Worlds serves two roles: first, it is a vehicle for cultural preservation and the perpetuation of indigenous traditions in the Pacific. In this role, it presents Pacific Islands—from Pacific-Islander perspectives—to the entire world. Whether you are a tourist or a scholar, this site will transform your understanding of Pacific cultures and environments. Second and more specifically, Pacific Worlds comprises an indigenous-geography education project serving Hawai‘i-Pacific Schools.

Here’s a snippet of what they write about ahupua‘a:

“Ahupua‘a is holistic,” Stephen Kubota says, elaborating the vision of the Ahupua‘a Action Alliance: “In Hawaiian culture, you had kahuna who knew the forests, knew the trees, knew the geology. The chiefs could draw upon the collective wisdom of the kahuna to help determine what was an appropriate construction project. Today, I see a modern ahupua‘a. It means using the knowledge and tools we have today.

“Some argue that using an ahupua‘a system today poses challenges simply because our society is not organized around subsistence, which was the whole premise of the ahupua‘a system. Others have said, how can you use an ahupua‘a system in modern Hawai‘i when we import 70% of our food? Moreover, the people within the ahupua‘a shared common resources, but today so many of these are now either degraded or sequestered in private lands.

“But if we look at the underlying values, principles, and practices, those have not changed. Certain accepted features are retained, even in Western law: water as a public trust resource, public access rights to forest, to hiking, to gathering. Those are acknowledged even in modern Western laws, especially in the State of Hawai‘i.

We both also liked this, from the same document:

“When I say ahupua‘a today, I’m talking about a holistic relationship, a kinship with all the living creatures that occupy the place where you live–including the spirits of the ancestors. There’s no Western term for this concept. There’s a phrase that I’m comfortable with for now, it’s ecosystem restoration, and those two words together carry the meaning. Ecosystem includes humans and all the non-human factors. Restoration is a really important concept because it has become a science, it becomes a policy. And in restoration policy, you are admitting that there was something damaged.

“The toolkit for restoration is very clear: you can’t restore if you don’t know what was there before. You have to use historic photographs, oral histories, and research. It’s kind of like the doctor-patient relationship: before I prescribe this, I’d better do a patient history to see if you’re tolerant to these drugs. Is it a genetic disorder, or a bacterial infection? We require some very high standards before a doctor prescribes medicine.

“I think ecosystem restoration is beginning to impose those kinds of standards on how we manage the environment. You may find that this area was once a taro patch, but because of all the changes, today it’s a reservoir. It may be best to leave it as a reservoir.”

There is so much more at this impressive and well-researched site. Regarding this island, they look in depth at Kawaihae. Links on the Kawaihae page send you to sections labeled arrival, native places, the sea, the land, footprints, visitors, memories, onwards. There are also sections on people, ahupua’a, community, re-planting, sacred sites, pau and language – and much more. It’s fascinating to look around and see all the significant people, cultural information and resources they have drawn together.

Richard points out that, regarding the modern ahupua‘a, they write “some people call it ‘back to the future.’”

He asks: “Isn’t that a lot like ‘moving forward by looking backward?’”