Protect Kohanaiki 'Ohana
Kailua-Kona, HI

Protect Kohanaiki ‘Ohana

This grant will help Kohanaiki ‘Ohana continue its precedent-setting struggle to protect the ecologically valuable and culturally important Kohanaiki tract of land, located on the Big Island’s Kona coast, from development into a tourist resort. This stretch of beach was the basis for the lawsuit that resulted in the 1995 Supreme Court ruling reaffirming that all land development—indeed, all land whether public or private, currently undeveloped or not "substantially" developed—is subject to the exercise of traditional Native Hawaiian rights guaranteed by the state constitution. This ruling has since become one of the most powerful tools for protecting habitat in Hawaii. As a direct result of this ruling, last year a state law began requiring that all development in Hawaii be subject not only to the traditional environmental impact statement, but also a cultural impact statement. This grant will permit the organization to strengthen its capacity to remain at the vanguard as laws stemming from its Supreme Count victory are challenged by developers. This, in turn, will permit the organization to remain a vanguard land conservancy organization and a model for other community groups.