The interim trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are in the process of reviewing proposals for the management of OHA's investment portfolio, and may vote today on the awarding of a five-year contract.

OHA's trustees should look toward socially responsible investment, and use the trust's investments to promote the kind of communities OHA beneficiaries care about, investing in ways that are consistent with Hawaiian values.

Socially responsible investment, or SRI, is the rapidly growing practice of integrating values and societal concerns with investment decisions, considering both the investor's financial needs and an investment's impact on society.

SRI with OHA's financial assets would involve screening out companies whose records conflict with Hawaiian values, seeking those that are consistent with Hawaiian values, and also safely investing more directly back into the community. Some SRI practitioners even offer indigenous screens to assess companies' records in this regard.

The SRI concept can be understood in Hawaiian cultural terms if we look at the Hawaiian use of water in the lo'i. This is a natural connection: the word for water is wai and the word for wealth is waiwai.

In taro farming, the water is diverted from the stream to flow through the lo'i, where it nourishes the plants, which in turn nourish the people. Then it is returned to the stream. We can think of the stream like OHA's finances, and the water in the lo'i like its investment portfolio.

The funds help to nourish whatever businesses and communities they are invested into, and as long as they are invested wisely, the principle is returned.

However, the question with SRI is how the water is being used - is our lo'i full of weeds or taro? Are these resources supporting companies with poor community, labor or environmental records, which are inconsistent with Hawaiian values?

SRI funds have demonstrated the financial soundness of this concept over the last five years, showing that not only are social and environmental concerns not a handicap in investing, but superior financial performance can go hand-in-hand with high social and environmental standards.

Bumpy Kanahele and Ho'oipo Pa are active in Hawaiian issues.

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