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Government & Politics

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Just when I thought the dust settled, another layer was added to the confusion. 

It’s nothing short of a crisis. On June 4, the Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, made an announcement from Ohio that throws Hawai‘i’s Medicaid program in the middle of a growing national fight over fraud. 

As a result of Ferguson’s announcements, the state agency certified to investigate Medicaid fraud in Hawai‘i is now decertified and defunded. In the federal government’s eyes, it functions with no credibility. 

, “Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has received millions and millions of dollars to fight fraud and has consistently been one of the lowest-performing fraud units in the country.”

, a little-known agency nestled under the Hawai‘i Department of the Attorney General charged with investigating fraud. 

The crisis has unfolded gradually over the past 10 years and now finds itself at an unprecedented inflection point. 

“They have been the subject of continued demands to improve their performance since 2014 — dating back to the Obama Administration — and from 2021 to 2025, Hawai‘i’s Medicaid funding went up 27%. Their Medicaid enrollment went up 40%, and they did not produce a single conviction or obtain a single indictment of a fraudster from 2021 to 2025.” 

The Attorney General of the State of Hawai‘i, Anne Lopez, had previously clapped back at the Trump administration's accusations against Hawai‘i just a week earlier. On May 26, the California Department of Justice 

 a press conference with several Democratic Attorneys General to address a ‘last-minute’ invitation extended by Vice President Vance to join the White House’s Medicaid Fraud Task Force. Attorney General Lopez was flanked by her counterparts from Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, and California.

 an Anti-Fraud Task Force on March 16 to be chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance. For politically disparate Hawai‘i, the gravity of the Task Force’s importance was brought to bear on May 13 at a 

 on Medicaid fraud hosted by Vice President Vance. 

“The Hawai‘i Medicaid program has received billions and billions of dollars from the federal taxpayers,” Vance observed at his May conference. “Hawai‘i taxpayers have paid in a lot of money into this program over the last years as well. Guess how many convictions or indictments Hawaii has had over the last few years in its Medicaid fraud program? The answer is zero.”

For those who don’t know, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program administered by the states. Each state has a designated Medicaid agency (

 in Hawai‘i’s case, which functions under the Hawai‘i Department of Human Services). Hawai‘i will then pay different providers and/or health plans to provide health care and report those expenditures to the federal government through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hawai‘i then seeks federal funds to match some of the costs borne by the State. 

, the U.S. federal government covered 71% of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid costs ($2.2 billion) in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, leaving the State of Hawai‘i to cover the remaining 29% ($890 million). It’s a lot of money, leaving fraud as a consistent possibility.  

Gov. Green brushed off Vance’s concerns on May 18. “He didn’t take the time to call me at all,” Green 

Gov. Green, for now, is committed to avoiding squabbles with the federal government. Where health care is concerned, he’s enjoyed a largely warm relationship with the Trump administration. 

To date, Governor Josh Green has expressed a ready willingness to engage with the Trump Administration on a select basis. 

This relationship has notably extended to the CMS headed by Dr. Mehmet Oz. CMS Administrator Oz has directly engaged with Governor Green on more than one occasion. On July 23, 2025, the Governor’s Office 

 that Green would facilitate a discussion with CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz (alongside Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott). 

CMS, so far, has also shown a willingness to fund rural health efforts across the United States, including Hawai‘i. On December 29, 2025, it 

 that the State of Hawai‘i would receive nearly $189 million in funding to “expand access to care in rural communities, strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize rural facilities and technology, and support innovative models that bring high-quality, dependable care closer to home.”

 focuses on six specific areas: (1) a Rural Health Information Network; (2) the Pili Ola Telehealth Network; (3) a Rural Infrastructure for Care Access (RICA) network; (4) a Rural Healthcare Workforce Pipeline; (5) a Rural Respite Network of five separate sites designed to reduce hospital stays; and (6) a Rural Value-Based Innovation and AHEAD Readiness Fund to encourage “value-based care and population-health models.” 

Ties between Gov. Green and Dr. Oz, at least for now, appear to be warm. Oz even 

 Green for collaborating with him for National Walking Day on March 19, just a few days after the formation of Vice President Vance’s Task Force. 

Despite Vance’s attacks on Hawai‘i, Gov. Green pulled back the veil to explain that he still maintains good relationships with the Trump administration. As he explained in one May interview, “I actually spoke right after that interview with the head of CMS – that’s Dr. Oz – to share what we’re actually doing.”

 (MFCU), organized under the State of Hawai‘i’s Department of the Attorney General. To that end, criticism of our MFCU is not new. 

In fact, managing the MFCU is a wicked issue with a decade of history. During the Obama Administration, an October 2014 

 conducted by the HHS OIG found that “only two of the [MFCU]’s seven investigators were hired as long-term employees (as required), the Unit did not have an auditor, it did not have written policies and procedures for its operations, and it did not have a required training plan for its professional employees.” 

The same report found that the MFCU failed to “regularly communicate with Federal law enforcement agencies, it worked outside of its grant authority, and it did not exercise fiscal control of its resources.”

 found that the MFCU “experienced significant turnover of investigators and lacked sufficient Medicaid fraud cases to adequately train new and inexperienced investigators.” Furthermore, the MFCU appeared to receive “few fraud referrals from the Medicaid Program Integrity Unit and other stakeholders, which limited the number of cases available for the Unit to investigate and prosecute.”

Similarly, the Center for Program Integrity within the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services called for better cooperation in two reports issued in 

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dispatched its Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) MFCU Oversight Division to review the state’s work on Medicaid fraud. Per the Attorney General’s office, the review “identified a number of challenges that have impacted its ability to initiate criminal charges and obtain convictions.” 

To that end, the division has ample room for improvement. Efforts to streamline the MFCU’s work include “increased collaboration with the unit’s state and federal partners to detect and investigate Medicaid and Medicare Fraud in Hawai‘i, accelerated recruitment of new investigators, and developing tools for investigation.” 

 directly to Hawai‘i’s Attorney General. The Inspector General, T. March Bell, doubled down on the Vice President’s rhetoric and went a step further. Bell confirmed that he had directed his office “to engage in a robust review of [Hawai‘i’s] MFCU.” To that end, he further confirmed that he “will be reaching out to you personally to review the effectiveness of your MFCU, as well as its compliance with program requirements.” 

“Hawaiʻi has not ignored Medicaid fraud,” Attorney General Anne Lopez 

 on May 14. “Our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has secured or helped secure more than $14 million in judgments, settlements, and recoveries since 2021, filed recent criminal charges, and is actively working with federal and state partners to strengthen investigations and prosecutions.”

It is still true that the State of Hawai‘i did not have any convictions resulting from the MFCU. This fact is confirmed by a 

 released by the HHS OIG. Small states like Montana, Vermont, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Delaware had at least one conviction. The same sheet shows that Hawai‘i managed to engage in 388 fraud investigations, although not a single investigation resulted in a single indictment.  

Despite his methods, the vice president's press conference is shining attention on an inconvenient, long-term issue with serious consequences for Hawai‘i’s fiscal health. 

For now, Attorney General Anne Lopez’s decision to align with other Democratic Attorneys General may run out of step with Gov. Green’s conciliatory approach to folks like Dr. Oz and the Trump Administration’s increased focus on Hawai‘i. 

It’s a game of money overshadowed by the inclination of national officials to make an example of Hawai‘i. To weather this storm, Hawai‘i’s money — and Hawai‘i’s health — require more attention from Hawai‘i’s people.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Josh Green state of the state 012125

<title>Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum</title>

On Thursday, the federal government decertified and defunded Hawai‘i's Medicaid fraud unit in response to having spent millions on the unit for years while getting few results. ASD political historian Perry Arrasmith explains how we got here and what it means for Hawai‘i, where Gov. Josh Green had been on fairly good terms with the Trump administration on health matters.

Making Sense of Hawai‘i’s Medicaid Fraud Conundrum

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Here’s Bishop Street, once the home of every major Hawaiian corporation in Downtown Honolulu, in a pair of then and now views from 1949 and today.

It should be a surprise to no one that many of the structures today in this location are considerably taller than the ones seen in the older photo. You can easily see that the Diamond Head side of Bishop Street in 1949, moving mauka from the second building back, formerly held the T. H. Davies building, the Bank of Bishop & Co. (today’s First Hawaiian) and the Alexander Young Hotel. None are standing today, having been replaced by high-rises.

But more interesting than these obvious newer buildings are some things that most people will not notice at all, but which are much more noteworthy. Can you guess what they could be?

If not, here’s the answer — the coconut palms. Specifically it’s the ones on both sides of the street closest to this viewpoint from Nimitz Highway. The oldest of these trees date from when the two remaining business headquarters still standing today were constructed on these two lowest blocks of Bishop Street: Alexander & Baldwin (visible on the left in the second block in 1949) and the Dillingham Transportation Building (on the right).

These coconuts were planted here by a young landscape architect who was making a name for himself nearly 100 years ago in Honolulu, Richard Tongg. A local boy of Chinese ancestry, Tongg had graduated from the University of Hawai‘i in 1923, spent about five years studying and working in California, then returned home to begin his career in 1929. He seems to have started off very successfully, quickly finding private clients with large homes as well as working on UH Mānoa’s campus and the grounds of the new Honolulu Hale.

Tongg was a fan of coconut palms and their gracefully curving trunks, and he attracted much attention by installing 10 fully grown ones in front of the new and as yet unopened Alexander & Baldwin building on Sunday, August 25, 1929. Passers-by marveled at the sudden appearance of these mature trees (where there’d been no vegetation at all) when the work week began as usual the next day. This was the first time that mature palms had been transplanted this way in Hawai‘i. Tongg must have known — along with the specialist who did the moving and planting, Henry Danner — that unlike woody trees that form major tap roots that can make transplanting difficult or impossible, palms only grow a large ball of countless small roots that can easily be dug up and will successfully regrow from being significantly pruned back.

The success of A&B’s landscaping in such a prominent location led to coconuts similarly being planted by Tongg in the next block makai, along the edge of a parking lot for the American Factors (Amfac) building, in July 1930.

The last of Bishop Street’s distinguished corporate structures, the Dillingham Transportation Building, was also graced by mature palms by Richard Tongg in time for its opening in September 1930. Tongg’s three landscaping jobs in these blocks, all of which incorporated coconut trees, gave Bishop Street a notably tropical ambience that many onlookers appreciated for obviously placing this impressive American-style business vista in its unique Hawaiian setting.

Now that you know the history of the palms that you can see in the current-day picture of Bishop Street, give them some good thoughts for their venerable ages. By now, the most aged trees here are over a century old (amazingly), since they were already 5 to 10 years of age when they were planted here nearly 100 years ago. Their great heights are evidence of their impressive lifespans. Let’s acknowledge the existences they’ve had in the heart of downtown Honolulu in spite of the unwarranted indifference most of us show them.

Bishop St 49

<title>Then & Now on Bishop Street: Buildings and Trees Grow Taller</title>

DeSoto Brown, historian and curator for the Archives at Bishop Museum, joins ASD as a history columnist. In this debut, he shows us Bishop Street in Downtown Honolulu, as it was in 1949 and as it appears today, with the backstory on what you're seeing. Something on this street is older than you might guess. What do you think that might be?

Then & Now on Bishop Street: Buildings and Trees Grow Taller

Food & Dining

Father’s Day is coming up Sunday, June 21. Whether dad wants a buffet, steak or seafood, check out the following options:

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: Prince Waikīkī, 100 Holomoana St. 3rd Floor, Honolulu

: The Father’s Day dinner buffet costs $109 per adult ($54.50 for children ages 6 to 10 years old). Highlights include:

The brunch buffet costs $111 per adult ($55.50 for children ages 6 to 10 years old). It includes similar offerings with brunch additions like a waffle station and toppings and an omelet station.

: June 18-21 dinner buffet from 5 to 9 p.m.; June 21 brunch buffet from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

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: Leilehua Golf Course, 199 Leilehua Golf Course Road, Wahiawā

: This Father’s Day brunch buffet costs $60 per adult ($25 per child, children ages 3 years and under have free admission).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bird of Paradise"}]

: The Father’s Day brunch buffet costs $98 per adult ($49 per child ages 6 to 12 years old).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The buffet will include:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chart House Waikīkī"}]

: This three-course dining experience costs $90 per person. It includes:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chef Chai"}]

: This all-you-can-eat lobster buffet costs $139 per person (50% off for children under 10 years old). The buffet will include:

: June 20 and 21; dinner seatings at 4, 4:30, 7 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday brunch at 9 and 9:30 a.m., 12 and 12:30 p.m. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hy’s Steak House"}]

: This Father’s Day brunch buffet costs $140 per adult ($105 for seniors ages 65 years and older, $65 for children ages 6 to 12 years; children ages 5 years and under have free admission).

A 20% service charge will be added for groups of eight individuals or more. 

: June 21; brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., last seating at 1 p.m. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kamukura Surf + Dine"}]

: This special Father’s Day celebration box costs $35 until June 13 (it’s $38 from June 14 to 18). It includes strawberry mochi; ‘ahi katsu; washugyu vegetable roll; garlic shrimp; edamame, unagi, salmon and hijiki rice; steamed vegetables; vegetable kakiage tempura; fried gyoza and an avocado mentaiko omelet. 

: Orders must be picked up before June 21

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"P.F. Chang’s"}]

: Royal Hawaiian Center, 2201 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu 

: This Father’s Day meal costs $99.99 for two people. It includes:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Plumeria Beach House"}]

: The Kāhala Hotel & Resort, 5000 Kāhala Ave., Honolulu

: This buffet costs $137 per adult ($55 per child ages 6 to 12 years) and will take place in the Plumeria Beach House restaurant and Maile room. Customers can look forward to carving stations, fresh seafood, chef specialties and desserts. 

: June 21, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5:30 to 8 p.m. 

kahalaresort.com/dining/plumeria-beach-house/

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Quiora Waikīkī"}]

: The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikīkī Beach, 383 Kalaimoku St., Honolulu

: This Father’s Day brunch buffet costs $125 per adult ($75 for seniors ages 65 years and older, $60 for children ages 6 to 12 years, children 5 years and under have free admission).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The buffet includes:"}]

A two-hour dining period will be enforced. 

: June 21; brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., last seating at 1 p.m. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Buffet at Hyatt"}]

: Hyatt Regency Waikīkī Beach Resort & Spa, 2424 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu

: This Father’s Day brunch buffet costs $110 per person ($55 for children ages 6 to 12 years, $5.99 per child ages 5 years and under).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Buffet highlights include:"}]

The eatery’s kamaʻāina discount is not applicable for the Father’s Day buffet. There will be a 90-minute dining time limit. 

: June 21; seatings at 9:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m.; 12 and 1:30 p.m. 

https://www.buffetathyatt.com/menus/#fathers-day-brunch

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Tim Ho Wan Waikīkī"}]

: Royal Hawaiian Center, 2201 Kalākaua Ave. A-307, Honolulu

: Customers who celebrate Father’s Day at Tim Ho Wan Waikiki will receive a complimentary dessert (inquire with servers). If you purchase a $100 gift card, you’ll receive a $20 coupon for your next visit. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Waikele Country Club"}]

: The Father’s Day dinner buffet costs $129 per adult ($74 for children ages 4 to 9 years).

The buffet will also feature live music entertainment. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wolfgang’s Steakhouse"}]

: Royal Hawaiian Center, 2301 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu

: This Father’s Day special costs $155 per person. It includes a glass of red wine, Wolfgang’s signature extra-thick slice of bacon, and 24 to 26-ounce prime bone-in rib-eye steak with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. 

Fathers Day 2026 Buffet at Hyatt 052126

<title>Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 - part 1</title>

Whether you’re looking to dine-in or celebrate at home, we’ve got you covered.

Where to celebrate Father’s Day 2026 - part 1

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Tuesday marked the filing deadline for prospective political candidates to submit their nomination papers to run for office in the 2026 elections. 

, city and county council seats are up for grabs across the Islands this year, along with mayoral races in Maui and Kaua‘i counties. These races are nonpartisan. Here's who filed as of June 2, according to information from the state 

The 2026 primary election is set for Aug. 8 with the general election following on Nov. 3. Here's who filed:

Waikele, Kunia, Wahiawā, and North Shore to Kahaluʻu)

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Matt Weyer (incumbent)"}],"text":""}]

Hawai‘i Kai, Kuli‘ou‘ou, Niu Valley, ‘Āina Haina, Wailupe, Wai‘alae Iki, Kalani Valley, Kāhala, Wilhelmina Rise, Kaimukī, Kapahulu, Diamond Head and Waikīkī)

(Portions of Kakaʻako, Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, Punchbowl, Papakōlea, Pauoa Valley, Nuʻuanu, Iwilei, Liliha, ʻĀlewa Heights, Kalihi and Kalihi Valley)

Aiea, Waimalu, Newtown, Pearl City, Seaview, Crestview, Waipi‘o Gentry, Koa Ridge, Mililani Town and Mililani Mauka

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Val Aquino Okimoto (incumbent)"}],"text":""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"underline"}],"text":"Hawaii County Council"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"District 1 (Hilo, Hāmākua, portion of Waimea)"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"District 2 (Hilo, portions of South Hilo)"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"District 4 (Lower Puna, Pāhoa)"}]

(Kā‘u, portions of South Kona, Volcano)

[{"type":"text","text":"Holeka Goro Inaba (incumbent)"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"James Hustace (incumbent)"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"underline"}],"text":"Maui County"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mayor"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Maui County Council"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"East Maui"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"West Maui"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Wailuku-Waihe‘e-Waikapu"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Kahului"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"South Maui"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Makawao-Ha‘ikū-Pā‘ia"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Upcountry"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Lāna‘i"}]

[{"type":"listItem","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Gabe Johnson (incumbent)"}],"text":""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Molokaʻi"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"},{"type":"underline"}],"text":"Kaua‘i County"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kaua‘i County Council"}]

Honolulu Hale 020525

<title>Here's who's running for office in 2026, part 2</title>

Tuesday marked the filing deadline for prospective political candidates. Here's who's on the ballot for city and county elections this year.

Here's who's running for office in 2026, part 2

Rose Angelo

Viewpoints

Aloha Spirit

I’ve always wondered why groceries are so expensive in Hawaiʻi — given that its climate is suited to year-round agriculture — and what local communities (and I) could do about it. So, I decided to learn about Native Hawaiian self-determination, mālama ʻāina, and food sovereignty from experts in Maui County.

Today, 1.4 million people live in Hawaiʻi. And, according to the Hawai‘i Food Bank, 43% of Native Hawaiians suffered from food insecurity in 2024. But this wasn’t always the case.

Prior to western contact, the ahupua‘a system produced food for a million people. This system established a reciprocal relationship between people and land and was completely self-sufficient.

Georgia Pinsky, director of the Maui Farmer Support Network, lives off grid in Kaupō, Maui, with her husband and son. They steward their home farm with a passion for organically grown and sustainable foods. “The Hawaiian Islands import 90% of their food, making the islands’ food supply system vulnerable to supply chain disruptions,” Pinsky noted.

How has there been such a drastic change in food production and security in Hawaiʻi, and how can Hawaiians come together to steward the land and their communities?

For more than a century, the historical — and contemporary — colonization of Hawaiʻi has made access to agricultural land, and the freshwater necessary to grow crops, extremely difficult for traditional farmers.

The dispossession of Native Hawaiians from the land, and diversion of streams for corporate sugar and pineapple plantations, undermined the ahupua‘a system, degraded soil health, disconnected communities from their ancestral lands, and complicated Native Hawaiians’ ability to steward land and produce food self-sufficiently.

Over time, limited access to land and water affected traditional food production and the adoption of processed, imported western foods created health disparities for Native Hawaiians.

“A lot of the health issues that we see in our rural communities are a direct result of the food they’re consuming — or the food they’re not consuming,” Pinsky said. Reestablishing widespread cultivation of, and access to, traditional foods such as kalo, ‘ulu, and mai‘a (banana) can help close the health gap.

On Maui’s southeastern coast is the rural community of Kīpahulu. There, the Kīpahulu ‘Ohana, a community-run nonprofit, is stewarding state lands and restoring lo‘i kalo. Utilizing the traditional ahupuaʻa system, they are producing food for their geographically isolated community while also providing protected environments for native and endemic species.

Communities like Kīpahulu prove that reestablishing Native Hawaiian stewardship practices encourage abundant and healthy ecosystems, while providing physical, cultural and spiritual benefits.

Beyond, its power to heal the land and its people, restoration of ahupua‘a practices can also benefit climate resilience.

 is a professor at Maui College and the director of ‘Āina Stewardship for the Hawaiʻi Land Trust (HILT). One of their projects includes restoring loko i‘a (fishponds) at Waihe‘e Refuge. Fisher explained that sea level rise and intensifying storms, precipitation, and drought all affect coastal capacity for agri- and aquaculture.

By restoring loko i‘a, sediment deposition from freshwater runoff into the ocean is reduced by 93%, protecting coral reefs and surrounding marine life. As a result, healthy reef systems can better mitigate coastal damage from intensifying storms.

Self-determinism is tied directly to the revival of Hawaiian cultural practices. Bobby Pahia owns 300 acres in Waikapū, Maui, that he leases to individuals and commercial farmers below market rate to increase community food production. “We need to build a mindset around kākou,” Pahia said. “Excessive individuality broke the Indigenous mindset of cooperation.”

As exemplified by individual and community action on Maui, Hawai‘i’s current ecological conditions necessitate reestablishment of ahupua‘a practices. Doing so will not only increase self-determination and the self- sufficiency of Hawaiian and local communities, but also support food security, environmental resilience, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation.

Reestablishing food sovereignty for Hawaiʻi is a kākou effort. Everybody can — and should — mālama ʻāina and take steps to increase their individual capacity for self-sufficiency.

To start, Pahia encourages the community to acknowledge past injustices and move forward. “Don’t be mad at the system. Fruit of bitterness doesn’t bear good fruit,” he said, adding that the duality of acknowledging wrong while moving forward to create a better system makes space for self-determination, mālama ʻāina, and continuation of culture.

Pahia believes that harboring resentment and bitterness regarding the injustice of past and present colonialism prevents forward progress toward achieving more food-sovereign communities.

He also points out the need to adapt traditional knowledge to modern colonial landscapes. In his work, Pahia has created a “sphere of regenerative knowledge” to encourage his lessees to work with the land and soil biology, rather than utilize commercial and extractive methodologies.

On Molokaʻi, Hanohano Naehu, head kiaʻi loko of nonprofit Hui o Kuapā, lives by the ʻōlelo noʻeau, “He ali‘i ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka; the land is chief, people are its servant.” Emphasizing that the ahupua‘a system created sources of abundant food and environmental benefits, he uses fishponds as educational tools for the island’s youth.

Another way to establish food sovereignty is to support and engage with local food producers by participating in fruit stand systems to share the abundance.

“Fruit stands emulate ma uka to ma kai exchange, keep food within rural communities, and reduce food waste and rural community dependence on grocery stores in central Maui,” said Pinsky. Fruit stands increase food sovereignty by allowing communities to dictate methods of food acquisition, rather than reinforcing our reliance on imported food.

Finally, Pahia emphasizes that active political engagement at both the local and state levels will increase pressure on politicians to support, and pass, environmentally and socially beneficial policies.

“We need to encourage local communities to vote,” he said, noting that voting community-oriented Native Hawaiians into government positions can increase government support for environmentally beneficial policies.

Editor's Note: This article is based upon research for the author’s undergraduate honors thesis, “Creating a Food Sovereign Maui: Indigenous Land Management and Agricultural Practices.” Author can be reached at 

This article is reprinted with permission from 

Mālama ʻĀina and Food Sovereignty in Maui Nui

Adapted from an undergraduate research thesis, student Rose Angelo talks with Maui community members about Hawaiʻi's "drastic change in food production and security, and how can Hawaiians come together to steward the land and their communities."

ASD Staff

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