Support Regenerative Agriculture & Community Based Resource Management
Support Regenerative Agriculture &
Community Based Resource Management
This coming Tuesday offers an opportunity to support three bills which would require the State to support Hawaiʻi's land stewards in transitioning to more resilient and environmentally beneficial stewardship practices.
A public decision making has been scheduled in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means where a bill to support the establishment of community co-management agreements will be heard on Apr. 7th at 10:31 am in Conference Room 211 (and virtually). Testimony is due Monday, Apr. 6th (although late testimony is still accepted). Do note that only written testimony is accepted for public decision making.
The House Committee on Finance will hear two more bills that same day with respect to healthy soils programs and organic waste diversion. This hearing will be on Apr. 7th at 2:00 pm in Conference Room 308 (and virtually).Testimony is due Monday, Apr. 6th (although late testimony is still accepted). In-person/live testimony will be accepted for this hearing.
If you have not done so already you will need to create an account with the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website to submit testimony.
Support HB2218 HD2 SD1 : Community Co-Management Agreements
What Does This Bill Do?
Authorizes the Department of Land and Natural Resources to enter into community co-management agreements and establishes qualifications for eligible community co-managers. Authorizes the disposition of public lands by a community co-management agreement.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support HB2218 HD2 SD1 which identifies and acknowledges the efficacy of community co-management agreements. We know that grassroots and lineal descendant communities have spent decades collaborating with government agencies to care for wahi pana and the surrounding resources. These efforts would be more effective and sustainable if supported by long-term community co-management agreements established through enacting legislation to do so by the state.
HB2218 HD2 SD1 seeks to enter into community co-management agreements with community-based organizations who honor traditional Native Hawaiian concepts of mālama ʻāina and place-based practices for effective management. The heart of this legislation is supported by the Hawaii State Constitution which supports co-management agreements as a means of restoring and protecting biocultural public trust resources for future generations, including for subsistence, cultural, and religious purposes.
Currently, community–government partnerships exist through curatorships, revocable permits, and concession agreements, the lack of statutory authority and a formalized process limits their effectiveness. Through HB2218 HD2 SD1, the board may enter into community co-management agreements, by direct negotiation and without recourse to public auction, with qualified community-based organizations for a time period exceeding sixty-five years.
Community-based co-management has established community-based subsistence fishing areas, and additional communities are organizing, all of which would benefit from long-term co-management agreements. This legislation seeks to strengthen the management efforts currently sustained by the organizations performing the work to-date.
Please support HB2218 HD2 SD1 in enabling a state supported community co-management agreement between DLNR and partners that would strengthen existing efforts and serve to establish a resilient island of place-based practice and sustained care to the work being done.
Mahalo for your consideration!
Your Name, Town
Support SB2110 SD1 HD1 : Healthy Soils Program
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes a Conservation Agriculture and Soil Health Incentive Program within the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission. Requires an annual report to the Legislatu
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support SB2110 SD1 HD1. Healthy soils provide many environmental and economic benefits, by supporting healthy crops and a productive ag sector, capturing carbon/climate change mitigation, making plants more pest and climate impact resilient and less dependent on costly inputs. Healthy soils are the foundation of a healthy food system.
We must provide farmers with education and technical assistance to implement farm management practices that contribute to healthy soils and issue awards and other financial incentives to implement farm management practices that contribute to healthy soils.
In recent decades we have learned a great deal about the importance of microbial life, soil biodiversity and the potential for our soil to capture carbon, aiding in mitigating climate change. The impacts heavy industrial practices have in depleting our local soil health for over a century, we must move away from the outdated practices of sterilizing lands with pesticides and herbicides and killing the soil microbes and life, and instead support the biodiversity of insects and microbes that are beneficial to soil health. Please support SB2110 SD1 HD1.
Mahalo for your consideration!
Your Name, Town
Support SB2101 SD1 HD1 : Organic Waste Diversion
What Does This Bill Do?
Updates and establishes additional statewide goals for solid waste stream and organic waste stream diversion. Requires the recycling, bioconversion, and organic waste diversion component to identify and assess methods to achieve certain organic waste stream reduction goals.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support SB2101 SD1 HD1. Diverting organic waste reduces the amount of ʻōpala, trash, that would enter our landfills. This creates an opportunity for the State to pivot to creating a potential environment/agricultural input in our communities. Achieving desirable benchmarks or goals may be challenging but increasing the number of alternative processing sites is a promising start to change. Mandating diversion within 20 miles of the source creates opportunities for more operators who are closer to their producers. This reduces the spread of organic material and creates valuable farming amendments near our producers who will be able to use them. This supports agricultural infrastructure for producers while minimizing the potential spread of invasives, diseases, and other pests.
As we advocate for an alternative to landfills in our communities, advocating for the creation of a county and constituents approved recycling, bioconversion, and organic waste diversion centers provides an alternative path. To sincerely divert waste from landfills, I support requiring counties to identify and assess methods to achieve certain organic waste stream reduction goals within the State. Please support SB2101 SD1 HD1.
Mahalo for your consideration!
Your Name, Town
