Conservation Opportunity Scoping Consultant (Hawaiʻi

Conservation Opportunity Scoping Consultant (Hawai'i)

This consultancy is intended to be part-time and completed in 3 months or less.

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) has a long-term commitment in Hawai'i to support healthy coral reefs through integrated, mauka-to-makai approaches that reduce land-based pollution, strengthen community stewardship, and improve the resilience of reef-dependent social and ecological systems. CORAL’s Hawai'i strategy currently centers on two connected priorities: advancing watershed and wastewater solutions, and strengthening protected areas and community-based marine management.

As CORAL’s Hawai'i portfolio evolves, the organization is shifting from primarily project-level implementation toward a more catalytic role that connects science, partnerships, policy pathways, and investment to enable broader systems change. This includes sustained engagement in statewide wastewater coordination, attention to watershed-scale sediment reduction through land use and management, and exploring how CORAL can more deeply engage in policy processes to shape and influence reef-positive conservation outcomes beyond individual sites.

To provide targeted research, scoping, and analysis to help CORAL maintain momentum while refining its strategic opportunities in the fields of (1) protected area management effectiveness and (2) sedimentation.

Produce analyses that identify where and how CORAL can add value in community-supported protected area management and stewardship and sedimentation mitigation across Hawai'i.

Protected Areas and Community Stewardship Scoping

Conduct a strategic assessment of marine stewardship and governance in Hawai'i, aligned with CORAL’s Hawai'i strategy and reef resilience priorities.

The consultant will:

• Summarize major marine governance and stewardship models (state-led MPAs/OECMs, community-based subsistence fisheries areas, Indigenous initiatives, co-management, large-scale area governance).
• Assess how Native Hawaiian stewardship principles and Indigenous governance approaches are incorporated into marine management and community leadership.
• Review evidence on ecological, social, cultural, and stewardship outcomes, highlighting success factors and common governance challenges.
• Identify key rights holders, stakeholders, partnerships, funding mechanisms, and policy frameworks shaping marine stewardship outcomes.
• Diagnose barriers and opportunities for effective management (governance, participation, funding, monitoring, enforcement, policy).
• Recommend practical opportunities and engagement pathways where CORAL can partner, add technical and facilitation value, leverage financing, or act at a systems level—complementing, not duplicating, existing efforts.

Key Research Themes

• Governance models: authorities, accountability, and decision‑making structures across major models.
• Indigenous management: integration of Native Hawaiian stewardship, co‑management/co‑governance, and Indigenous‑led management examples.
• Community involvement: mechanisms for participation, trust, legitimacy, and compliance.
• MPA/OECM landscape: existing and proposed sites, management entities, effectiveness, and conservation intent.

Conduct a strategic scoping assessment of sedimentation, focusing on watershed‑scale drivers, priority geographies, reef impacts, and alignment with CORAL’s ridge‑to‑reef strategy.

The consultant will:

• Prepare a situational analysis of sedimentation drivers, current conditions, and reef health implications across Maui Nui.
• Summarize current initiatives, key actors, major landowners/managers, and relevant regulatory and policy frameworks for sediment management.
• Identify land use, water resource, conservation, and coastal management frameworks influencing sediment generation and restoration.
• Assess gaps and opportunities in the existing sediment reduction and watershed management landscape, including ridge‑to‑reef initiatives.
• Recommend practical partnership, financing, policy, and systems‑change opportunities where CORAL can catalyze watershed‑scale sediment reduction and reef resilience, with emphasis on South Moloka'i.

Key Research Themes

• Sediment…