Honolulu

Honolulu’s Resilience Journey

Located on the most isolated archipelago in the world, Honolulu faces a host of environmental challenges related to weather change, including hurricanes and typhoons, tsunamis, rainfall flooding, and rising sea levels. Honolulu’s Located on the most isolated archipelago in the world, Honolulu faces a host of environmental challenges related to weather change, including hurricanes and typhoons, tsunamis, rainfall flooding, and rising sea levels.

Honolulu’s island location means that its critical urban infrastructure is completely independent, and it cannot rely on neighboring grids for support in times of need. A strong hurricane could damage sea and air ports, creating food crises in a city that imports almost all of its commodities, and could devastate the fragile local economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism.

A strong evacuation plan and public outreach programs have already helped to minimize the impacts of tsunamis, and the city is currently updating its disaster mitigation plans to account for rising sea levels and other shocks.

Honolulu is also looking to address increased homelessness, compounded by the location of informal settlements along the coast, where inhabitants are more vulnerable to extreme climate events.