Taro farming, cultural survival, and wetlands conservation

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RConflicts over natural resources and land allocation issues are intensifying worldwide. Such conflicts present obstacles to both environmental conservation efforts and to political stability. In the Hawaiian Archipelago, conflicts over the use and management of wetland areas have reached an all-time high. While decades of agricultural, commercial, and residential development have threatened critical wetlands, biologists have found that endangered waterbirds are attracted to wetland areas that have traditionally been farmed for taro. The co-investigator, an environmental anthropology doctoral student from the University of Washington, will work with 52 taro farmers on the Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i, investigating the connection between taro farming and endangered waterbirds. The research focuses specifically on the economics of taro farming, the value of taro farming as a wetlands management alternative, and the value of environmental knowledge developed over generations by taro farmers. The research will involve household interviews, weekly data collection on farm statistics and waterbird counts, a traditional environmental knowledge survey, focus group discussions, and participant observation. These research methods are designed to document traditional environmental knowledge employed in watershed management and the economic profitability of taro farming. This will provide an estimate of the per-unit cost for taro farmers managing wetlands for endangered waterbird protection. If taro farming is indeed as environmentally valuable as is claimed, it may provide the state of Hawaii, and other regions throughout the moist tropics, with a means of promoting both human and environmental well-being.