Hawaii’s most iconic beach is quickly becoming a poster child for why it’s so hard to adapt to a changing climate.
Waikiki might be one of the most famous beaches in the world, a synonym for surfing and sun-soaked vacations that draw millions of people annually. But for years, Honolulu and the State of Hawaii have been reckoning with a very uncomfortable fact: The beach is vanishing.Just below the infinity pool at the Sheraton Waikiki, an advancing shoreline claimed a walkway and set of concrete stairs, which now dangle above the water.
“People might be surprised by how much of a man-made beach this is,” says Dolan Eversole, a 51-year-old coastal geologist who represents Dolan Eversole of the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association oversaw the construction of an L-shaped groin, top left, near the Royal Hawaiian hotel that effectively “holds the beach together,” in his words. Nearby, his group plans to build four new T-shaped groins, modeled at top right. | Top: Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association
“It used to be, ‘Oh, OK, we’ll think about it later,’” said State Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, from her office in the Capitol building here, still largely deserted during the pandemic. “But now everyone knows that the science says you’re going to be underwater, and we have to figure out what to do about.
Moriwaki acknowledges her team is still at the starting line. “There’s a lot of hands in the pot, but so far the pot isn’t cooking,” she says. “But at least now there’s interest. Before there wasn’t even that.” The area’s transformation into a commercial center began around the turn of the 20th century, shortly after Hawaii became a U.S. territory. In 1906, Lucius Pinkham, a businessman from Massachusetts who became president of Hawaii’s Board of Health, concluded that Waikiki’s drainage and mosquito issues were “deleterious to public health.
Keone Downing, pictured inside his surf shop, has become one of Waikiki’s most prominent voices arguing that current climate adaptation efforts favor hotels over locals, including surfers. On Maui, a similar proposal for beach widening by the State of Hawaii and the hotel industry also is encountering opposition from community members, many of them Native Hawaiians who worry about long-term impacts on coral reefs and fishing, as well as short-term disruptions to canoe racing. Several people have promised to “stand in front of bulldozers” to stop the project, arguing that hotels and condos should start making plans to retreat inland.
“This was a perfect place to experiment with what happens when you let the water go where it wants to,” Downing said. “You’ve got no hotels or buildings in the way. Take out the wall and let the water bring the sand and the beach up into the park.” Instead, the City and County of Honolulu hired a contractor to rebuild the walls, place additional sand inside and lay the concrete pavers on top, creating the visual effect of a short, sloping sidewalk to nowhere.
The University of Hawaii’s Judith Stilgenbauer wants to return the Ala Wai Canal and its surroundings into versions of the wetlands they used to be. Renderings from a report published by Stilgenbauer and colleagues show a future version of the Ala Wai area that hearkens back to its past as wetlands, while also providing greater access to recreational activities. | UHCDC/Judith Stilgenbauer et al.
Although there is wide acknowledgement in Hawaii about the need to preserve the economic activity Waikiki generates, far less agreement exists about what this future preservation should look like. If recent events are any guide, the industry’s appetite for making — and paying for — decisive change might not be particularly high. Those defunct and dangling stairs at the Sheraton and the walkway leading to them have been blocked with an unsightly “Closed” sign for more than five years because of a stalemate over who should be responsible for repairs, Eversole says.
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