Help Hawaii Win their Bid for the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Conference

Please Do All That You Can Personally To Reach Out To Your Contacts And Friends As We Need To Activate Your Networks To Help Us Get More Senators To Sign Onto The Letter. 

Aloha Friends,

Hawaii is currently in the running to host the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Conference. We believe we have an excellent chance of winning the bid but in order to qualify we need the support of the United States Government. To do so Hawaii Senators Schatz and Hirono are circulating a Dear Colleague letter asking their fellow senators to sign a letter to Secretary Kerry asking for his support.

Please help us by encouraging your senators to support the bid by signing on to the letter to Secretary Kerry.

To find your Senator click here or copy and paste the link below:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

To read the Dear Colleague letter click here or copy and paste the link below: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Vu5qiav9BudW5aRS1Ia3h1eEk/edit?usp=sharing

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network representing more than 160 countries. This body, which is essentially the “UN for the environment,” has never, in its 65 year history, met in the US.

The IUCN has provisionally allowed the Hawaii to begin the bid process; however, a formal bid must be submitted by the Department of State. The effort is truly a national one and we firmly believe that hosting the WCC is in our national interest as a world economic, social, and environmental leader.

For the U.S., and the State of Hawaii, to host this Congress would give strong and clear global voice to the President’s commitment to the environment and to positioning the U.S. as a world leader in finding creative solutions to these most pressing issues.

Thus far we have been unable to convince the Department of State to submit a formal bid by the September 12, 2013 deadline. Help us by encouraging your senators to sign on to the letter to Secretary Kerry.

Find your senator here

Read the letter here

Mahalo for your help!

Esther Kia'aina
First Deputy
Department of Land and Natural Resources

Congrats, William Aila Jr.!

The Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument (from left to right): Mike Tripp, Ike Cabrera, William Aila Jr., Angelo Villagomez, and Ken Kramer.

Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument's good friend William Aila Jr. has been chosen by governor-elect Neil Abercrombie to be the next Director of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources. William is a pseudo-celebrity on Saipan. He made big news in 2008 when he traveled to Saipan to share his experiences with the creation of what was is now Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. When he visited he appeared on local talk TV and radio, spoke to the Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, and met with a number of community and elected leaders.  William helped the leaders and people of Saipan make the decision to advocate for the creation of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.

On behalf of the Friends of the Mariana Trench Monument, Congrats William!

Supporter from Hawaii

There is a letter in the Saipan Tribute today written by Mr. William J. Aila Jr. from Hawaii.

Aha Moku who?

Much has been said about an Oct. 13, 2008, letter that was written to President Bush by a group of Hawaiians called the Aha Moku Council, asking him to not designate the Northern Marianas National Marine Monument.

This group is a creation of the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The Aha Moku Council is supposed to organize and consult with Native Hawaiians who represent their ahupua'a, a traditional land division system in Hawaii.

The Aha Moku Council has not yet organized, nor have they consulted with any of the Hawaiian groups representing their ahupua'a on Hawaiians taking a position on the creation of the Northern Marianas National Marine Monument and yet, at the urging of WESPAC, sent a letter, purporting to represent the Native Hawaiian's position.

The letter that states, “When you created the Papahanumokuakea National Marine Monument, it was done without the participation of Native Hawaiian people.” It further states the name Papahanaumokuakea “was the name the your administration picked for the Monument.

”This is typical WESPAC misinformation. The name “Papahanaumokuakea” was chosen by the Native Hawaiian working group of the North-Western Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council. This Reserve was the precursor to the Monument.President Clinton in an Executive Order, designated that three members of this Council should be Native Hawaiians, with one seat reserved for a Kupuna or elder. WESPAC, on the other hand, has no such requirement to have a Hawaiian on its Council.

The Native Hawaiian Working group met over the course of more than six months to consider several names for the Monument. The debate amongst Hawaiians was fierce but amiable, ultimately choosing Papahanaumokuakea. Hawaiians were at the forefront of the creation of the Reserve and continue to be consulted and have a place on the Management Board of the Monument.
The largest group of cultural practitioners in Hawaii, Ilio ula o ka lani, has demonstrated its support for the Monument by having representatives fly to Washington on numerous occasions and by attending close to a hundred meetings on the process. On one occasion, organizing a 10,000-person march on Waikiki to show support for the process.

Please do not allow the misinformation of the eight people on the Aha Moku Council, created by WESPAC, who have not consulted with Native Hawaiians as described in their organizational documents, to influence the people of the CNMI. Check out the facts, consider your needs and the future legacy that you leave for the children of the CNMI.

WESPAC has a direct state in the matter and that is the reason for the misinformation campaign. Should President Bush and the people of the CNMI approve a Monument, then WESPAC loses jurisdiction over fisheries in the Monument. For WESPAC, it's all about them, and not about you or the resources of CNMI. Don't be fooled!


William J. Aila Jr.
Wai’anae, Hawaii