This guide offers a structure for building and sustaining long-term relationships between communities and researchers.
“Getting dirty, physically being there, listening to voices, sitting and working alongside – it’s not always built into people’s schedules in the academic world. But you need to force it and sit and listen to understand the issues.”
Hundreds of research projects are conducted each year focused on the natural resources of Hawai‘i’s upland, coastal, and marine ecosystems. However, the consistency with which community perspectives and cultural practices are integrated into research efforts and decision making processes that impact Hawaiʻi’s resources and ecosystems is highly variable.
These kūlana (standards) may be applied to a range of communities. Support for the development of the Kūlana Noi‘i was provided by the University of Hawai‘i SEED IDEAS Program, He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, and Paepae o He‘eia.
Kūlana Noiʻi Working Group. 2021. Kūlana Noiʻi v. 2. University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.
