**8. Closing**

Community-based resource management in the Pacific Islands is well-positioned to move forward within partnerships where indigenous people are at the core and not just the periphery. Pacific Islanders descend from ancestors who survived through harsh conditions and high degrees of environmental variability from which they possessed intimate traditional knowledge and values of reciprocity and respect for the environment [68]. Thus, those who possess intimate knowledge of place should be considered the most capable of making decisions about that place. As the tide continues to turn towards empowering indigenous communities in natural resource management, it is essential to share indigenous-driven initiatives that can guide future direction in addressing social, cultural, and ecological factors to address within resource management and in the broader restoration of social-ecological systems. This case study lays a foundation for empowering indigenous initiatives built on a collective vision of healthy thriving social–ecological systems and is part of a growing effort to clear a path forward for indigenous communities to bring their priorities to the forefront.

In closing, NKA is one approach honoring the importance of pilina as the important threads that bind our communities closer to each other and the places that feed our well-being. NKA gathers communities around pilina, in particular how maintaining healthy pilina to place and one another is an essential element of ❛ aina momona, thriving and productive communities of people and place. ¯ Ultimately, restoring biocultural health means healing indigenous relationships to place and each other.

As Native Hawaiians return to our core values of honoring reciprocity in pilina to the ❛ aina and to ¯ one another, we can improve the way we can rely on each other for research, community engagement, education, resource management, and policy. By coming together and trusting in ancestral knowledge systems, we are able to take steps forward together to build resilient and adaptive communities. As the community-based marine-resource-management movement grows in Hawai❛ i and the Pacific Islands, NKA strives to be present on all fronts of the social, biological, and cultural needs to create culturally grounded resource management designed to restore abundance and productivity to our biocultural lands and oceans.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, P.A., K.M., E.C., P.P., K.S., L.A., U.C.; Methodology, P.A., K.M., P.P., E.C., K.S., L.K., U.C.; Formal Analysis: P.A., K.M., P.P., E.C., K.S.; Invesigation, P.A., K.M., E.C., P.P., K.S., L.A., U.C.; Resources, N/A; Data Curation, N/A; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, K.M., P.P., K.S., E.C.; Writing-Reviewing & Editing, K.M., P.P., K.S., E.C., L.K.; Supervision, P.A., E.C., K.M.; Project Administration, P.A., E.C., K.M.; Funding Acquisition, P.A.

**Funding:** The APC was funded by Hawai❛ i Community Foundation.

**Acknowledgments:** This work was funded in part by Kamehameha Schools, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the University of Hawai❛ i Hilo (PACRC), the University of Hawai❛ i Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Papahanaumoku ¯ akea Marine National Monument ( ¯ ❛ Aulani Wilhelm, Moani Pai, Hok¯ u Johnson), NOAA Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative, NOAA B-WET Program, Hawai ¯ ❛ i Tourism Authority, and conducted with support from community partnerships in North and South Kohala with UH Sea Grant, Kalaemano through Kalaeman ¯ o Cultural Interpretive Center (Ku ¯ ❛ ulei Keakealani and Aunty Lei Lightner), the University of Hawai❛ i at Hilo (Misaki Takabayashi), Keaholoa STEM Scholars Program (Kehau Springer, Makani Gregg, Pat Springer, Kahoane Aiona, Tyson Fukuyama, N ¯ akoa Goo, and support ¯ from Kamalani Pua, Brawn Albino, ❛ Iolani Kauhane, Rodney Balais, Moani Pai, Rob Paige, Trisann Bambico, Niegel Rozet, and many more), Kanu o Ka ❛ Aina New Century Public Charter School, Kohala Middle School, ¯ Kailapa Community Association, Ka❛ up¯ ulehu Marine Life Advisory Committee, The Nature Conservancy, and ¯ Conservation International and on Kaua❛ i at Na Pali and H ¯ a¯❛ ena with Hui Maka❛ ainana o Makana, Kawaikini, ¯ Hawai❛ i Department of Land and Natural Resources-Natural Area Reserve System, Ke Kula o Ni❛ ihau, Waimea High School, Nohili Pacific Missile Range Facility, and K ¯ oke ¯ ❛ e Resource Conservation Program. Mahalo nui to the Hawai❛ i Community Foundation (Dana Okano) for your sponsporship making it possible to share our work in this special issue! We wish to also acknowledge the many communities and partnerships that contribute to

this collective journey to listen to ❛ aina and build a collective, diverse understanding of place and our pilina ¯ to it. In listening and engaging, we open our senses to internalizing the needs of our communities and places and re-remember the path paved by our ancestors to guide the solutions and behavior shifts we need for ❛ aina ¯ to be productive and thriving as our communities will too. To the international communities (Mangaia and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, Ruatoria, Whanganui, and Hastings in New Zealand) we exchange with through Kuka ¯ ❛ i Laulaha, we mahalo you for being a beautiful reminder of all the threads interconnected in our ❛ upena of Moananuiakea. You allow us to be able to pass these pilina to another generation reinforcing these threads ¯ that stretch far into our histories and, if tended well, far into our futures! Mahalo maoli no to our communities ¯ in Hawai❛ i and across Moananuiakea for joining us in cultivating the soil so one day these seeds will grow and ¯ thrive and continue the pilina for many generations to come.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.
