Learning from Local Ecological Knowledge to understand Climate Change Impacts and Preserve Key Cultural and Natural Resources in North Kona, Hawai‘i Island

Climate change is a global process with site-specific ecological and sociocultural repercussions. Observations informed by local ecological knowledge (LEK) highlight local changes to weather, impacts of change, and adaption strategies. We describe two projects in Ka‘ūpūlehu (North Kona) that focus on LEK to understand how environmental and ecological conditions and processes are changing and how people have adapted. These are  informed by traditional proverbs, accounts, and recent observations from kama‘āina (native-born people). Our “Timeline of Adaptation” includes creation stories, the arrival of organisms, disturbances (drought, lava, storms, political disturbance) and insights on how people have responded. Our “Seasonal Calendar” depicts  cyclical change in mountain and shoreline environments, as well as the links between them, as based on weather, phenology, and the preparation and exchange of traditional foods. Biocultural and participatory approaches highlight informed observations of longer-term changes to normal variation and improve our understanding of how to adapt.