B.5.4. INCORPORATING CLIMATE CHANGE INFORMATION 
Climate change is projected to have significant ecological effects in Hawaii, and 
considering these effects may increase the effectiveness of actions and strategies outlined in the 
Management Plan. Climate change-related data, criteria, and models could be incorporated into 
some of the Strategic Actions outlined in the Management Plan 
B.5.4.1. Leadership and Coordination 
Strategies related to coordination provide an excellent opportunity for information 
sharing about changing conditions that could allow species to move between habitats. 
B.5.4.2. Prevention 
Strategy 2B8 calls for identifying “ecologically sensitive” marine and inland waters that 
have few or no AIS and determining and implementing precautionary actions. Areas not 
previously considered may be vulnerable to AIS due to climate change effects such as warmer 
waters, droughts or flooding, or sea level rise. For example, salt water intrusion from sea level 
rise may harm freshwater ecosystems close to the coast and could allow salt tolerant AIS to 
thrive and out-compete native species. Thus, climate change considerations should be taken into 
account when identifying “ecologically sensitive” areas. 
B.5.4.3. Early Detection/Rapid Response, Control, and Management 
Strategies 3A and 3B call for continuing current monitoring to improve understanding of 
spatial and temporal distributions of existing species and detect new species. Monitoring should 
be modified to address how climate change may affect AIS rates of spread in order to more 
accurately predict distributions and prevent their establishment. Proactive monitoring will 
increase the efficacy of early detection and rapid response. Strategy 4C recommends integrating 
knowledge on control and management efforts from Hawaii with national and international 
information on specific species to develop long-term plans for containment and eradication. 
State staff should consider how climate change effects (e.g., increased runoff, water temperature, 
or drought, may impact the success of recommended control and eradication methods. 
B.5.4.4. Research 
Objective 6 recommends research on the economic impacts of AIS. Climate change 
should be considered in this research. For example, if coral or fish diseases become more 
prevalent due to warmer waters, decreasing coral reef abundance, Hawaii’s tourism industry 
could suffer. Coral bleaching due to climate change could further exacerbate this impact. 
B-25 
