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Hawaii law could break years-long astronomy impasse

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Scivillage, related past thread: Giant telescope will be built on sacred Native Hawaiian peak

BACKGROUND (SacredLand): Mauna Kea is profoundly significant in Hawaiian culture and religion, representing the zenith of the Native Hawaiian people’s ancestral ties to Creation itself. The upper regions of Mauna Kea reside in Wao Akua (realm of the Akua-Creator) and the summit is considered to be the temple of the Supreme Being in many oral histories throughout Polynesia, which pre-date modern science by millennia. Mauna Kea is also the head waters for the island of Hawai‘i. Modern Native Hawaiians continue to regard Mauna Kea with reverence and perform many cultural and religious practices there.

For Native Hawaiians, Mauna Kea is the home of Na Akua (the divine deities), Na’Aumakua (the divine ancestors), and the meeting place of Papa (Earth Mother) and Wakea (Sky Father) who are considered the progenitors of the Hawaiian people. Mauna Kea, it is said, is where the Sky and Earth separated to form the Great-Expanse-of-Space and the Heavenly realms. Mauna Kea is both the burial ground and the embodiment of the most sacred ancestors, including NaAli‘i and Kahuna (high ranking chiefs and priests).
 
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Hawaii law could break years-long astronomy impasse
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01926-2

INTRO: The state of Hawaii has set up a new way to manage the mountain Maunakea, the summit of which is home to many world-class astronomical observatories. A law signed by Hawaii’s governor on 7 July removes the University of Hawaii from its role as the main authority overseeing the land on which the telescopes sit, and gives that responsibility to a newly established group with much broader representation of the community, including Native Hawaiians.

Many hope that the shift will mark a path forwards for astronomy in Hawaii, after a years-long impasse over the future of telescopes on Maunakea. Since 2015, some Native Hawaiians have intermittently blocked the road to the summit, primarily to prevent the start of construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) — a next-generation observatory that will have a huge light-gathering mirror to make astronomical discoveries. The sit-ins sparked wide-ranging discussions about the rights of Indigenous peoples to have a say in managing lands that are sacred to them but that have been used for purposes including science.

The new Maunakea authority will include Native Hawaiians in decisions about how the mountain is managed, with an emphasis on mutual stewardship and protecting Maunakea for generations to come. The authority will have 11 voting members, one of whom must be an active practitioner of Native Hawaiian cultural traditions, and one of whom must be a descendant of a cultural practitioner who is associated with Maunakea. There are also spots for representatives drawn from astronomy, education, land management, politics and other fields.

“I’m very hopeful for the new entity,” says Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, a Native Hawaiian elder who has helped to lead road blocks on the mountain. “It is beyond my imagination of where we would be at this time, because we have fought so long to be heard.”

The University of Hawaii has managed most of the lands around the Maunakea summit since 1968, when the state granted it a 65-year lease to operate a scientific reserve focused on astronomy. Maunakea has ideal skies for astronomical observation, given its 4,200-metre height and its stable and dark night skies. The university now has to transfer all of its management duties, including a complex set of subleases, permits and other agreements, to the new authority by 1 July 2028. “There’s a tremendous amount of change that’s cued up and uncertainty associated with that,” says Doug Simons, director of the university’s Institute for Astronomy in Manoa, Hawaii... (MORE - details)
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