Blockchains and environmental self-determination for the Native Hawaiian people: Toward restorative stewardship of Indigenous lands

Part I sets forth the Four Values of Restorative Justice for Native Peoples, a framework of contextual legal analysis for adjudications impacting Indigenous communities deployed throughout this comment. Part II provides a contextual history of the formation, governance, and mismanagement of the Public Land Trust to demonstrate why polycentric stewardship is necessary. Part III explains the right to environmental self-determination and the aspects of blockchain technology that make it especially relevant to Native Peoples seeking increased control over biocultural resources. To illustrate blockchain’s potential, Part IV proposes a polycentric stewardship program for Pohakuloa Training Area, a US military training complex on Hawaii Island that sits on Public Land Trust acreage. This comment ultimately seeks to examine how blockchain can help Kanaka exercise our right to environmental self-determination while holding the state and federal governments accountable for exploiting Hawaii nei (beloved Hawaii).