Birds, Not Mosquitoes Partnership Receives Hawaiʻi Conservation Innovation Award

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The Birds, Not Mosquitoes (BNM) partnership  received the Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance’s (HCA) Conservation Innovation Award on July 31 during the 31st annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference in Honolulu. The award recognizes new technologies or techniques used in conservation activities that lead to significant advances to the structure or nature of environmental conservation in Hawai‘i. In choosing BNM for the award, HCA noted the speed, cooperation, strategic thinking, and community engagement that characterizes this unique alliance of federal, state, and nongovernmental organizations.

“The Birds, Not Mosquitoes coalition has shown exemplary collaboration that embodies the collective spirit and innovation needed to tackle Hawaiʻi’s toughest conservation challenges,” said Emma Anders, HCA Director. “Thanks to their teamwork and application of cutting-edge science, we are now giving native forest birds a chance at survival. This award is especially significant as it is taking place during Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele, the Year of the Forest Birds.”

Each of the BNM partners have been working to restore habitat and combat non-native mosquitoes and avian disease, but the rapid collapse of four bird species — the ʻAkikiki and ʻAkekeʻe on Kauaʻi and the Kiwikiu and ʻĀkohekohe on Maui — catalyzed the formation of the partnership focused on suppressing mosquito populations to stop avian malaria from killing them. Since its inception in 2017, the BNM team has collaborated to develop and safely deploy an innovative tool called the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT). While IIT has been used safely around the world for mosquito-borne diseases that affect human health, this is its first application for conservation.

Following years of rigorous study, analysis, and technological innovation, BNM has successfully and safely conducted releases over the last eight months of more than 15 million nonbiting, infertile male mosquitos across several thousand acres in remote conservation areas on Haleakalā, Maui. Planning is underway to begin deployment over a few thousand acres of remote forests on the Alaka‘i Plateau, Kauaʻi in early 2025.

This work could not have been accomplished without funding support from the Department of Interior’s Hawaiian Forest Bird Conservation Keystone Initiative, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and substantial additional funding from the State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is also a major supporter, along with several private foundations, private donors, and nonprofit organizations.

The BNM partnership includes the following organizations: