Poor Protection Of Molokaʻi From Invasive Beetles Called An Emergency

The loss of plants to invasive species would threaten the island’s food security and calls for more serious action.

In a unanimous vote, a state advisory committee on invasive species on Wednesday found existing rules to protect Molokaʻi from coconut rhinoceros beetles so insufficient it has created a situation dangerous enough to constitute an emergency.

A petition written by Kunani and Ipo Nihipali, Hawaiian cultural practitioners and Molokaʻi residents, calls for temporarily banning the import of gardening and landscaping materials to the island, following two detections of the destructive beetles on Lānaʻi. With Wednesday’s vote, that proposal will come before the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity.

Molokaʻi is the last of the Main Hawaiian islands to be apparently free not only o