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The Nature Conservancy welcomes new Hawaiʻi Island Marine Program director

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The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra recently announced that Kalani Quiocho, who was born and raised on the Big Island, is its new Hawaiʻi Island Marine Program director.

Quiocho brings a wealth of management, leadership, partnership and cultural expertise to his post at The Nature Conservancy.

Kalani Quiocho, who was born and raised on the Big Island, is the new Hawaiʻi Island Marine Program director for The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra. (Photo Courtesy: The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra)

He spent more than 10 years working with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a program analyst, including as the agency’s first cultural resources coordinator and as a cultural advisor and Native Hawaiian program specialist.

Among his many accomplishments, Quiocho also published “Mai Ka Pō Mai” — a document for Native Hawaiian guidance of the management for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument — through collaboration with seven co-managing agencies and the Papahānaumokuākea Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group.

“Kalani’s expertise in working with diverse partners and his experience helping [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to include indigenous knowledge in federal decision-making is a tremendous gift,” said The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra Executive Director Ulalia Woodside said in an annoucement about Quiocho’s appointment. “We are thrilled to grow our capacity with him to partner with and uplift local communities as we collaborate to restore abundance and health to Hawaiʻi’s coral reefs and nearshore ecosystems.”

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Quiocho is returning to The Nature Conservancy, where in 2016 he completed The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi Marine Fellowship Program.

His focus as a marine fellow was on understanding key values, principles and practices needed to support succession planning for generational community-based conservation.

He was born and raised in Hilo, spending much of his childhood in Keaukaha with his extended family, and graduated from Kamehameha Schools-Kapālama on Oʻahu. 

“We are the culmination of our ancestors and their lived experiences, and now we have an important opportunity and responsibility to take care of people and the places that have continued to bring us life,” Quiocho said in the announcement. “I am proud to perpetuate this cherished tradition of aloha ʻāina with The Nature Conservancy and our partners for all of Hawaiʻi nei.”

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Quiocho earned a bachelor’s degree in marine science from University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and a bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Studies from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

He worked as an akule, or bigeye scad, fisherman and acquired more than 400 sea days as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fishery observer on longline swordfish and tuna fishing vessels.

Quiocho is now in a doctorate program in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa .

His research focuses on understanding factors that impede or advance the governance of protected marine areas by indigenous peoples and how indigenous peoples exercise their sovereignty and self-determination throughout local, national and international institutions for environmental governance.

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The Nature Conservancy, founded in 1951 through a grassroots effort in the United States, has grown to become one of the most effective global environmental nonprofits working to create a world where people and nature can thrive.

It has more than 1 million members and a diverse staff of more than 1,000 scientists, impacting conservation in 81 countries and territories directly or through partners.

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