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An analysis revealed that as small as the land area is at 17,400 square kilometers, the Hawaiian Archipelago comprises the widest range of ecosystems.

Endemic species of organisms are found exclusively in a particular geographical area, and the Hawaiian Islands have hosted an estimated 15,000 species found nowhere else in the world. Calculations indicate that 27 out of the 38 defined terrestrial ecosystems present on earth exist in the Hawaiian Islands, deeming the Hawaiian Archipelago one of the most ecosystem-rich regions known across the globe.

The wide range of ecosystems and a high number of biological diversity and initially found endemic species underscores the importance of conservation efforts to preserve the biodiversity of the islands. Present-day statistics according to Gon and researchers estimate that “over 80% of native habitat has been lost”, leading to biodiversity loss.

In the study, “ʻĀina Momona, Honua Au Loli—Productive Lands, Changing World: Using the Hawaiian Footprint to Inform Biocultural Restoration and Future Sustainability in Hawai‘i,” Gon and other researchers address the need for more robust biosecurity measures and adaptation strategies to help mitigate the impacts of climate change on agriculture and ecosystem health in Hawai’i. With the diverse range of ecosystems growing within the islands, the opportunities for agricultural diversification and biocapacity enhancement are available to utilize in a design. Gon and the other authors strongly advocate for diversified agricultural practices that target and address ecological challenges and promote resilience.

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_ article sourced within the post: Gon, Samuel, et al.  “ʻĀina Momona, Honua Au Loli—Productive Lands, Changing World: Using the Hawaiian Footprint to Inform Biocultural Restoration and Future Sustainability in Hawai‘i.” Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 10(10), 2018, 3420-. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103420

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It's important to note that most of the data gathered on permacultural methodology was orchestrated through observation of small-scale farms. There is a lack of research observing permaculture and larger-scale systems and infrastructure simply because it probably hasn’t been done yet, although there is building curiosity from some agricultural designers as implementing regenerative designs usually present in permacultural models is gaining popular interest. Researchers indicate areas in need of a more consistent socio-economic infrastructure including small communities could benefit from the model.

Further research is needed for larger-scale investments, proposing more discussion within agronomic institutions on how implementing permaculture into an agricultural design could be an ecological benefit for a place like Hawai’i, despite its apparent challenges.

Permaculture is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but one that is continually evolving in response to the environment, new knowledge, and challenges. It is flexible and adaptive in principle, creating an open dialog and canvas for trial and error and further research.

Research authors Hirschfeld and Van Acker state, “Permaculture strategies may be especially useful for improving margins in low-input, degraded, marginal and least-profitable agricultural areas” (809). The authors briefly address how the design model could also benefit industrialized farm areas: “Precision agriculture technology, particularly soil and crop sensing, could be extremely useful for identifying on-farm and regional hotspots where permaculture management would be most rewarding. These technologies may be instrumental for the adoption of knowledge and labor-intensive practices on larger farm areas than is currently typical”.

Although comprehensive studies in this area are still limited, this gives hope to permacultural enthusiasts striving to globalize the theory of design due to increased pressures of biodiversity loss, climate change, and soil health depletion.

Despite its limitations in research, there is still room for exploration within the possibilities of permacultural principles aiding in restorative measures for the ecology of Hawai’i, especially when incorporated into existing sustainable models of design currently seeking improvement.

_ (click the image for the image description with credit to the artist)

_ article sourced within the post: Hirschfeld, Sarah, and Van Acker, Rene. “Review: Ecosystem Services in Permaculture Systems.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, vol. 45, no. 6, 2021, pp. 794–816, https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2021.1881862

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It is crucial to understand the fundamental principles driving permacultural blueprints and emphasize the need for strategic execution, maximization, and optimization at every stage of development.

Research author Rhodes underscores the importance of integrating and executing regenerative systems into agricultural frameworks. The author elaborates on the importance of executing designs where various multifunctional systems are implemented when many elements support each important function when stating, “Two of the cornerstone permaculture design principles are that “Each element performs many functions” and “Each important function is supported by many elements” (Rhodes 404).

This principle held under the theory of permaculture expresses the importance of not only utilizing existing space, and honoring diverse environments, but by designing systems where each element serves multiple functions, and critical functions are supported by multiple elements, aiding in ensuring resilience in the face of failure.

This is critical when considering an agricultural blueprint that is not only sustainable but ensures redundancy, making the model restorative, and cyclical in design.

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_ article sourced within the post: Rhodes, Christopher J. “Permaculture: Regenerative – Not Merely Sustainable.” Science Progress (1916), vol. 98, no. 4, 2015, pp. 403–12, https://doi.org/10.3184/003685015X14467291596242

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Permaculture is presented as a model of regenerative design that mimics nature’s efficient use of resources, where each element serves multiple functions and multiple elements support each function, enhancing resilience and sustainability.

Ideally, we are looking for therapeutic benefits in an agricultural design to improve and regulate environmental conditions throughout their lifecycle, from production to disposal.

Researchers Hirschfeld and Van Acker communicate how scientific analysis of permaculture’s effects on ecosystem processes has been narrow; however, the applicable strategies and principles of permaculture design to be analyzed gaining momentum in popularity shared by other agroecological models as used by farmers who utilize permaculture. “Designing studies is challenging in that permaculture is not a precise formula that a scientist can easily represent in a lab or controlled experimental plot”, nor has the studies had proper funding to continue. The authors further express how, “a permaculture farmer strives to acknowledge and plan for numerous multiscalar interactions between their crops and its ecosystem, by flexibly integrating all appropriate technologies. It is most often an approach of sequential inclusion rather than factorial exclusion” (796). Suggesting a model such as the permacultural method would typically involve adding elements or components gradually over time, monitoring how each addition interacts with existing components through careful analysis, rather than excluding options or factors all at once.

In other words, implementing a model such as permaculture to help in ecological restoration is a step-by-step process with an incremental approach allowing for flexibility and adaptation with consideration of multiple variables and perspectives before coming to a consensus with the design.

Intercropping is typically utilized to maximize space, resources, nutrients, and repelling pests - All while also supplying some food, shelter, etc.

_ (click the image for the image description with credit to the artist)

_ article sourced within the post: Hirschfeld, Sarah, and Van Acker, Rene. “Review: Ecosystem Services in Permaculture Systems.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, vol. 45, no. 6, 2021, pp. 794–816, https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2021.1881862

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SOIL HEALTH - When looking at regenerative food systems utilizing by-products as inputs for future crops, researchers speculate how permaculture could help minimize reliance on external resources such as fertilizers. Here's a quote from one of the research studies: “Compared to a conventionally managed grain farm which plowed and applied mineral fertilizers, seven years of permaculture management has resulted in higher concentrations of organic carbon and bioavailable nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus), alongside changes to pH and soil aggregate size fractions” (Hirschfeld and Van Acker, 795). Suggesting that permacultural methods could not only produce a healthier, more nutritionally dense crop but also aid in on-site soil health.

In addition, by embracing diversified agriculture, maximizing the functions of natural elements (such as erosion control and habitat preservation), and prioritizing regenerative technologies, we have a potential blueprint to systematically use in current agricultural designs to help mitigate the impact of industrialization on soil, water, and air quality down the long run.

_ (click the image for the image description with credit to the artist)

_ quote source: Hirschfeld, Sarah, and Van Acker, Rene. “Review: Ecosystem Services in Permaculture Systems.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, vol. 45, no. 6, 2021, pp. 794–816, https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2021.1881862

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Ideally, permaculture aligns with a vision of regenerative and sustainable resource management and ecological restoration in contrast to other scenarios like continued tenacious industrialization, or the possible catastrophic collapse by resource scarcity. Whether permaculture incorporated into a systemic infrastructure as big as the economic system in Hawai’i is realistically feasible or not, many of permaculture’s principles are actionable on the smaller community-level scale, which when accurately executed could create lasting effects despite initial struggles when implementing a new agricultural model within existing ones. Examples are spaces such as a home, a small business, or less industrialized farms.

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Zoning in both the Hawaiian's Ahupua'a system (1st image) and Permaculture's design system (2nd image)

Permaculture is a design based on a set of principles gathered from observing natural patterns and processes, such as the cycles of water, nutrients, and energy in ecosystems.

This design’s principles guide the development of integrated systems that do their best to maximize efficiency, diversity, resilience, and productivity while minimizing waste and external inputs. This system emphasizes the use of renewable energy sources, such as sunlight, wind, and biomass, as well as ecosystem services provided by the natural environment, such as pollination, soil fertility, and pest control. By integrating diverse elements within a system to create mutually beneficial relationships and synergies such as plants, animals, buildings, water systems, and utilization of vertical and horizontal planes, permacultural farmers and designers can maximize resource efficiency, without everything being predominantly compartmentalized and separated.

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The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō or ʻōʻōʻāʻā was the last member of the ʻōʻō genus within the Mohoidae family of birds from the islands of Hawaiʻi. The entire family is now extinct. It was previously regarded as a member of the Australo-Pacific honeyeaters. The bird was endemic to the island of Kauaʻi. 

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Sustainability shouldn’t be merely about what “lasts,” but that it is also self-sustaining with minimal negative impact on the environment. Regeneration is the process of restoring and revitalizing ecosystems, landscapes, and communities to a healthier, and more resilient state that not only sustains themselves but also contributes to the regeneration of the surrounding environment.

Short-term yielding industrialized agroecosystems provide efficient quantity; however, many are apprehensive about the future longevity of monoculture systems in place, heavily relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. (see images above)

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Hawai'i - not only the most remote but the most biodiverse!

Hawai’i encompasses diverse biological activity characterized by high endemism rates in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Ecologists, Botanists, and Conservationist Biologists consider an area prolific in various types of biotas, or variability of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or entire planet, as having ecological biodiversity.

Biodiversity is a crucial building block for the resilience of healthy ecosystems, contributing to their stability, productivity, and adaptability to environmental fluctuations. Sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices that contribute to fostering biodiversity in their agricultural blueprints have a higher likelihood of potentially aiding in habitat rehabilitation and ecosystem restoration.

Statistics | Conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, the Holdridge Lifezone analysis revealed that as small as the land area is at 17,400 square kilometers, the Hawaiian Archipelago comprises the widest range of ecosystems. Endemic species of organisms are found exclusively in a particular geographical area, and the Hawaiian Islands have hosted an estimated 15,000 species found nowhere else in the world. Calculations indicate that 27 out of the 38 defined terrestrial ecosystems present on earth exist in the Hawaiian Islands, deeming the Hawaiian Archipelago one of the most ecosystem-rich regions known across the globe. The wide range of ecosystems and a high number of biological diversity and initially found endemic species underscores the importance of conservation efforts to preserve the biodiversity of the islands. Present-day statistics according to Gon and researchers estimate that “over 80% of native habitat has been lost” (3), leading to biodiversity loss. This is heavily unfortunate, and we are rapidly losing our biodiversity by the year in the Hawaiian islands, and all over the globe.

_ (click the image for the image description with credit to the artist)

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Our blog is a project dedicated to helping educate nature lovers, local farmers, growers, conservation students, and ecological activists on permaculture and its possibly future-sustaining effects on the world through small-scale implementation.

Sustainable agriculture in Hawai’i doesn’t always consider regeneration in their agricultural designs; therefore, implementing permaculture into these designs could help ecological restoration in Hawai’i. Addressing biodiversity loss and its impacts on our ecosystems is crucial for a restorative and sustainable agricultural blueprint.

_ (click the image for the image description with credit to the artist)