What is the PAA program?
Papahanaumokuakea 'Ahahui Alaka'i (PAA) is a ten-day experiential leadership program that brings together teachers, business people, policy-makers as well as potential community leaders interested in learning and being inspired by science and traditional knowledge management practices. is being sponsored by staff of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Monument). This workshop will bring together a broad range of interests and knowledge to ultimately inspire active stewardship of natural and cultural resources by participants within their home communities.
The Monument co-trustee agencies (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State of Hawai‘i) have selected a group of 12 people to participate. The first three days will be spent on O‘ahu in Hawai‘i preparing, learning natural and cultural history, practicing with available technology and getting to know the other participants. The remaining seven days will be spent on remote Midway Atoll located 1,250 miles northwest of Honolulu within the Monument. On the atoll participants will be in the midst of millions of nesting seabirds on small islets surrounded by an incredible assemblage of marine wildlife. In this living laboratory participants will be immersed in a variety of activities using traditional knowledge, science methodology, island conservation and resource management practices while building upon their plans to navigate change back home.
