September 19, 2016
Kamehameha Schools students, Hawaiian-focused charter schools, faculty and administrators took part in the highly anticipated World Conservation Congress (WCC) at the Hawai‘i Convention Center from Sept. 1-10.
The congress is held every four years by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The global gathering was held on U.S. soil for the first time after more than 60 years. This year’s event theme was “Planet at the Crossroads.”
KS Trustee Chair Corbett Kalama shared his mana‘o with invited guests at the Opening Ceremony on Sept. 1 (Watch the entire speech here). Students and kumu from the three KS campuses also participated, as did representatives from Hawaiian-focused charter schools hosted by KS: Kanu o Ka ʻĀina (Waimea, Hawai‘i), Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu (Keaʻau, Hawai‘i), Samuel M. Kamakau (Heʻeia, Oʻahu), Kua o Ka Lā (Puna, Hawai‘i), and Kanu i ka Pono (Anahola, Kaua‘i).
IUCN’s approach stresses that nature conservation and human progress are not mutually exclusive. Facing tremendous forces of transformation such as climate change and dramatic socioeconomic inequality across the world, there are credible and accessible political, economic, cultural and technological choices that can promote general welfare in ways that support and even enhance our planet’s natural assets.
Kamehameha Schools’ policy is to give preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry to the extent permitted by law.
