Hawai`i Tropical Forest Recovery Act
Concepts, Recommendations and Action Items

GUIDING CONCEPT 9

INNOVATIVE FUNDING
Encourage new funding for forest-related projects and programs. Innovative funding sources, such as revenues from water yields and carbon sequestration, would permit forests to sustainably pay for their upkeep. A multi-agency grants program, whereby funds would be jointly raised, administered, and distributed, would be in keeping with the cooperative spirit of those with overlapping interests in Hawaii's forests.

RECOMMENDATION 23: Develop a program that allows a percent of the sale of water to fund essential regional forest watershed management activities.

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

Enter into regional memoranda of understanding to develop management plans with various landowners to protect and enhance essential watershed areas.
Develop a program by which a fixed fee, to be paid by all public and private users who consume water, be used to implement regional watershed plans. The fee would be collected at the county level, and allocated via a formula established jointly by the county water agency and the Commission on Water Resource Management. Preliminary estimates indicate that the average private user's costs would increase a few cents per day under this proposal.

RECOMMENDATION 24: Use carbon sequestration as a funding mechanism for Hawaii's forest management programs.

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

Develop demonstration project areas with different types of forest management systems (e.g., forest plantations, natural forest management, native forest protection) for carbon offset opportunities.
Conduct discussions with utility companies to develop their interest in funding carbon offset forestry projects in Hawaii.
Secure funding for Hawaii to participate in baseline monitoring of verification, and the audit of carbon offset forestry projects.

RECOMMENDATION 25: Establish a grants program to support partnerships that link research, management, and extension efforts for traditional cultural, social, economic, biological, or other resource information and technology transfer needs.

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

Convene an interdisciplinary, multiorganizational working group to develop and propose a grants program, taking approximately 6 months to come up with a proposal. The effect would be to affirm the need for and value of interorganizational partnerships, identify a competitive, peer-reviewed mechanism for stimulating the formation of such partnerships, and obtain an organization that will commit to securing the partners needed to initiate a cooperatively funded and managed grants program.
Circulate the proposed agreement widely to all potential interest groups for comment, endorsement, and initial commitment of funds and personnel assignments. The effect would be to produce a cooperatively funded and managed competitive grants program, establish available funding, establish program guidelines and peer review requirements, issue a first call for proposals, and fund first grants.
Operate the program, increase as possible, and review effectiveness every 5 years. The effect would be to create cooperative partnerships, fund start-up projects, stimulate new funding sources, stimulate formation of interdisciplinary work units that no individual organization could initiate or fund by itself, stimulate innovation, and encourage public-private partnerships, and research-management partnerships.

Hawai`i Tropical Forest Recovery Act
Concepts, Recommendations and Action Items

GUIDING CONCEPT 9

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Hawai`i Tropical Forest Recovery Act Concepts, Recommendations and Action Items

GUIDING CONCEPT 9

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Hawai`i Tropical Forest Recovery Act
Concepts, Recommendations and Action Items