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NCCOS PROJECT

InEvalTool: An Integrative Evaluation Toolkit for Hawaiian Nature-based Solutions

This project began in July 2024 and will be completed in June 2026.
Researcher facilitating discussions amongst community members and project implementors during the systems mapping phase of an evaluation of a restoration project.
Researcher facilitating discussions among community members and project implementers during the systems mapping phase of an evaluation of a restoration project. Credit: Lysbeth Koster.

We are co-developing an accessible, replicable way to evaluate the performance of nature-based solutions that accounts for the data and modeling constraints islands face, as well as island community values.

Why We Care
Nature-based solutions (NBS) have great potential as adaptive responses to climate change, but they often face skepticism due to our lack of understanding of their effectiveness, costs, and non-market benefits relative to standard engineering approaches. This gap in systemic understanding of the role NBS can effectively play is particularly stark on island systems that substantively differ from their continental counterparts and where climate impacts existentially threaten human wellbeing.

What We Are Doing
We are advancing understanding of NBS effectiveness in Hawaii by supporting monitoring efforts of hazard-risk-reducing NBS. Specifically, we will:

  1. Co-develop an integrated evaluation toolkit (InEvalTool) that will guide co-production of knowledge about physical, ecological, social, cultural, and economic system relationships and desired outcomes of NBS, tailored to the Hawaiian context.
  2. Apply the toolkit to an initial cohort of existing NBS projects generating system descriptions and performance evaluations.
  3. Build an online toolkit user interface and case study database.
  4. Catalyze a community of practice in NBS evaluation across the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands.

Initially building on projects within Hawaii, we will co-develop and apply an integrated and easily replicable approach to evaluation that takes into account data and modeling constraints islands face, as well as island community values. We will create a standardized database structure to collate evidence of NBS performance, and build online tools to facilitate communication and share knowledge across a community of practice that we will foster. Opportunistically throughout the project, we will explore the applicability of the tool and future expansion opportunities across other U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands.

Benefits of Our Work
Products generated from this project (e.g., toolkit, compiled database of monitoring data) will fill urgent needs for cost-effective evaluation and evidence-based decision-making about the appropriate use of NBS to reduce hazard risk and achieve community resilience objectives in island climate adaptation strategies. Communities can use these resources to access technical assistance around NBS, overcome modeling and data access issues, and enhance their capacity to evaluate the performance of different NBS interventions. Overall, this work will lead to improved use of evidence in NBS-related decision-making, resulting in more equitable and resilient outcomes for island communities.

This project is led by Dr. Kristen Oleson at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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