Issue Position: Food Security

Issue Position

Hawaiians fed themselves by the hundreds of thousands for over a thousand years with no need for imports. Today we face the exact opposite situation: Nearly 90 percent of our food is imported from thousands of miles away. We, the people of Hawaii, are in a vulnerable and dangerous situation when it comes to food dependency.

Hawaiians land and natural resource management schemes were based in the ahupua'a and kapu systems. The economy was based on abundance, or aina momona, which allowed for sharing and trading. Abundance was achieved through aloha aina, a reverence towards the resources that feeds you, and a strict kapu system which regulated what and when you take.

Aina momona was also achieved through "adaptive management" and "ecological engineering" of the natural resources that insured high productivity and enhanced sustainability. Constant daily observation allowed for a spiritual and symbiotic intimacy between the user and the resources.

Ecological engineering allowed Hawaiians to build and operate ingenious food producing infrastructures that were easy to maintain, used inherent natural energies and balanced competing uses in a beneficial coexistence. The Ahupua'a (Extraction), the Loko i'a (Aquaculture), and the Lo'i Kalo (Agriculture) were all integrated into one of the worlds most productive, efficient and sustainable food systems ever experienced by the human species.

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