April 11, 2024

Introduction

Nova Scotia has ~13,000 kilometres of coastline and 70% of Nova Scotia’s population lives in coastal communities. Coastal areas and resources also play an essential role in making Nova Scotia what it is today, and its ecosystems are crucial for species, ecosystems, and culture. That is important, because those coastal communities and ecosystems are at risk. Global sea levels are expected to rise 1 meter above current levels by the year 2100 and Nova Scotia will experience some of the greatest local sea-level rise because the land is sinking as sea levels rise. This means it is vital to protect our coastal ecosystems and residents.

Five years ago, on April 11, 2019, the provincial legislature passed the Coastal Protection Act. It has two purposes: to protect the province’s coast and ecosystems by preventing development that may damage the natural and dynamic nature of the coast, and to protect new developments from coastal threats such as sea-level rise, coastal flooding and erosion, and storm surges.

The Coastal Protection Act did not immediately become law. Instead, work was begun to develop regulations that would set out the rules under the Coastal Protection Act. For five years, the public, coastal communities, experts, and municipalities contributed to that work. However, in March 2024, the Government of Nova Scotia abandoned implementation of the Coastal Protection Act and its regulations and replaced that regime with a coastal action plan called The Future of Nova Scotia’s Coastline: A plan to protect people, homes and nature from climate change (the “Coastline Plan”).

Nova Scotia Has a Long History of Failing to Manage and Protect Our Coast

Nova Scotia has been grappling with how to protect the coast from coastal erosion and flooding, storm surges, and sea level rise for half a century. In 1976, Nova Scotia was one of the first provinces in Canada to introduce coastal zone management through the establishment of a coastal zone management issues group with an executive director for coastal zone issues. In the 1990s, the Government of Nova Scotia launched Coastal 2000, a provincial coastal planning process that was not pursued because of insufficient support. The Government of Nova Scotia tried again when it launched an interdepartmental Provincial Oceans Network (“PON”) whose objective was to develop an integrated approach to coastal zone management. The PON created a Coastal Management Framework between 2006 and 2008, and the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture commissioned the State of Nova Scotia’s Coast Technical Report (the “Technical Report”), which was released in 2009. The PON then created a draft coastal strategy in 2011 but a final version was never released or implemented.

Legislated Coastal Protections Are a Best Practice Observed in Coastal Jurisdictions around the World.

One of the findings of the PON’s 2009 Technical Report, which the Government of Nova Scotia commissioned over a decade ago, was that multiple pieces of legislation dealing with coastal resources are a barrier to achieving an integrated plan for coastal management and sustainable development.

In August 2018, East Coast Environmental Law (“ECEL”) prepared a research report, Protecting the Coast: A Multi-Jurisdictional Legislative Review, which reviewed and compared select coastal jurisdictions to identify common elements and best practices of coastal management regimes around the world. We found that many jurisdictions use integrated coastal management approaches that are guided by best-available science and principles like sustainable management. In all the jurisdictions examined, coastal development is managed in a designated coastal zone by regulating development through a series of rules characterized by zoning, setbacks, buffers and variances, permitting and licencing, operational and policy standards, and environmental assessments.

Effective coastal management is centered around a coastal zone. Often, the boundaries of a coastal zone are delineated with respect to either the high-water mark or low-water mark. Some jurisdictions further divide their coastal zone into sub-zones or districts. This is true in international jurisdictions and in Canadian provinces. These jurisdictions then employ one or a combination of proscriptive and performance-based approaches to limit areas where coastal development can occur. Coastal setbacks or buffer zones are usually used; they are based on floodplain mapping and long-term modeling that identifies risks from coastal erosion and flooding, storm surge, and sea level rise. Effective coastal management also requires monitoring and enforcement of coastal development rules.

Our research report drew similar conclusions to the PON’s Technical Report: the best way to manage coastal development is to have a cohesive, unified, and integrated approach.

Nova Scotia’s Coastal Protection Act Prescribes Coastal Development Rules that Incorporate Best Practice

Nova Scotia’s Coastal Protection Act incorporates many of the key aspects and principles of integrated coastal management, using an approach that was made for Nova Scotia’s unique and diverse coastline. The Coastal Protection Act’s purposes (stated above) and their implementation are guided by a set of prescribed principles that signal the urgency and importance of integrated coastal management.

 Those principles are:

a)          portions of the Province's coast are dynamic and naturally migrate landward and seaward as a result of the interaction of natural forces such as tides, winds, currents and wave action with varying geological conditions;  

b)         preservation of the dynamic nature of the coast is important in order to protect and allow for the natural adaptation of coastal ecosystems that provide fish, wildlife and plant habitat and perform important ecological functions that Nova Scotians value; 

c)          human-made structures designed to delay or obstruct the natural migration and shifting of coastal features may accelerate the effects of coastal erosion and may accelerate these effects on adjacent properties that do not contain similar structures; 

d)         coastal features such as beaches, dune systems, barrier beaches, coastal lagoons, barachois ponds, coastal wetlands and salt marshes provide valuable habitat and provide other valuable ecological functions and services important to the health and well-being of Nova Scotians; 

e)          sea-level rise, coastal flooding, storm surge and coastal erosion pose significant threats to the safety of future development in coastal areas; 

f)            there is a link between economic and environmental issues and a recognition that long-term economic prosperity depends upon sound environmental management and that effective environmental protection depends upon a strong economy; and 

g)         risk-informed decisions regarding development in coastal areas are an important part of climate change adaptation given the inevitability of relative sea-level rise, coastal flooding, storm surge and coastal erosion and their related impacts on the province.

Ultimately, the Coastal Protection Act incorporated best-practices for integrated coastal management and its regulations would have established coherent rules for coastal development that would have limited development to safe areas based on best-available science and professional input.

The Coastline Plan Is Inadequate and Fails to Incorporate Best Practices for Effective Coastal Management

Unfortunately, the Government of Nova Scotia’s alternative to the Coastal Protection Act is a three-year plan focused on 15 narrowly scoped actions and fails to incorporate or advance almost any best practices of effective coastal management.

1.         The Coastline Plan does not establish a cohesive, unified, and integrated approach to coastal protection.

The Coastal Protection Act regime would have provided certainty and clarity for the public, coastal property owners, and government (including municipalities) by setting out clear criteria for coastal developments all around the province using a set of integrated rules.

The Coastline Plan does not offer a cohesive, unified, or integrated approach. Instead, the “plan” will be for each coastal property owner to undertake their own investigations for their properties and for each municipality to develop its own sets of rules. This will lead to a series of disjointed and disorganized regimes across the province – assuming that municipalities take on the task.

2.         The Coastline Plan does not designate and delineate a coastal zone or seek to manage the coast using a zonal approach with associated setbacks, despite that being best practice.

The central job of the Coastal Protection Act was to create a Coastal Protection Zone (the “CPZ”) around the province. Within that CPZ, a series of restrictions, limitations, and prohibitions on coastal development and related activities would be mandated in the form of horizontal building setbacks and minimum building elevations. The use of the CPZ and related setbacks reflects a standard practice that is found in coastal jurisdictions around the world. The Coastal Protection Act regime also recognized the important role of municipalities in managing coastal development by entrusting municipalities to operationalize the Coastal Protection Act regime through their existing permitting processes. While not perfect, the CPZ and setbacks were designed to respect local coastal realities and processes while establishing consistency around the province.

The province’s Coastline Plan is not so much a plan on how to manage coastal development or to identify coastal zones in which coastal property owners are at risk, but more so a series of actions that the Government of Nova Scotia proposes to undertake to assist coastal property owners and municipalities in learning about, assessing and dealing with coastal risks on their own.

A particular focus of the Coastline Plan is promoting the province’s new Safeguarding Your Coastal Property: A guide to protecting your property and promoting healthy coastlines in the face of climate change (the “Coastline Guide”) to coastal property owners. Specifically, it is promoted as a tool for coastal property owners to manage their properties themselves setting out the dangers of inappropriate coastal development. It reads (emphasis added):

The most effective long-term protection from coastal hazards is to build out of harm’s way. For new or existing properties, avoiding areas that are susceptible to flooding and erosion is the best way to keep people and property safe. The coastline also needs space for its natural processes to stay healthy and resilient. Ideally, the most at-risk areas should be left as natural, open space.

The risk of being impacted by erosion or coastal flooding can be minimized by building farther inland and at a higher elevation. Structures should be located above the estimated maximum flood level for your location and far enough back from the water’s edge to account for potential erosion. The estimated maximum flood level will be different for every property. Factors include high tide levels, the range of future sea level rise, the reach of waves and storm surge, and coastal features affected by erosion. For a general sense of what this could look like in your area, please visit the Coastal Hazard Map at novascotia.ca/coastal-climate-change.

The Coastal Protection Act regime was meant to do exactly what the Coastline Guide suggests would be best: to identify areas where coastal development is at risk from coastal erosion and flooding, storm surges, and sea level rise, and to use a series of horizontal setbacks and minimum building elevations specific to local areas to prevent new coastal development in those areas. The result would have been two-fold: coastal property owners would have received the benefit of a comprehensive and science-based approach that allowed for localized minimum setbacks to prevent building in dangerous areas, and coastal ecosystems would have received additional protection. Instead, coastal property owners are now left to fend for themselves using a suite of tools to get a “general sense” of where to build, primarily using a coastal flooding hazard mapping tool.

3.         The Coastline Plan fails to consider the long-term or future generations.

The Coastline Plan is billed as a “three-year plan” to achieve three objectives: (1) support informed decision-making and empower coastal property owners, (2) support municipal leadership, and (3) align resources with coastal protection. It is not clear why the province is only willing to commit to coastal protection for three years or whether its objectives are meant to be achieved within three years and no further action will be taken beyond 2027. While its title speaks about the “future” of the coast, the Coastline Plan is silent about how the province will support long-term management of the coast for the benefit of future generations. This stands in stark contrast to the Coastal Protection Act, whose purpose is to “protect the Province’s coast for future generations” by taking action to prevent damage to the coastal environment and ensuring development is protected from risk of damage and destruction.

4.          The Coastline Plan does not advance equity, sustainability, or the public’s interest in the coast.

The Coastline Plan is only directed at private coastal property owners and not aimed at sustainably and equitably managing the coast for the benefit of the public. For example, one of the goals under the plan is to create a comprehensive resource guide for coastal property owners. The term “property owner” appears in the Coastline Plan a total of 9 times. In contrast, the word “public” appears only twice: it is used once in a header (“Public Education”) and once within the term “public infrastructure”. The Coastline Plan fails to mention terms that might be associated with effective coastal management for the public benefit or the environment. For example, the Coastline Plan does not mention: Crown land, public lands, public benefit, future generations, impacts on adjacent property owners, ecosystems, equity, equality, fish, wildlife, habitat, science, participation, or sustainability.

The focus on private coastal property owners is at odds with the reality that the coast from the high-water mark to the low-water mark (with a few exceptions for private water lots and federal property) is public Crown land. The government of Nova Scotia is responsible to manage and protect that coastal Crown land. This failure to consider and improve management of public Crown land along the coast does nothing to advance equity or sustainability.

5.         The Coastline Plan backtracks on important protections for coastal ecosystems.

The Coastal Protection Act prohibits alteration of wetlands in the CPZ unless done in compliance with the Act and regulations. Activities in the CPZ authorized under the Beaches Act and Environment Act are also required to be consistent with the purpose and principles of the Coastal Protection Act and its regulations.

The Coastline Plan does not mention ecosystems or habitats, and it has no actions related to protecting coastal ecosystems.

Concluding Remarks: The Coastal Protection Act Must be Implemented

Nova Scotia has a long history of failing to effectively manage and protect the coast. The Government of Nova Scotia’s recent decision to abandon implementation of the Coastal Protection Act, in favour of a Coastline Plan that received no input from the public, does not incorporate best practices or address the public’s interest in protecting coastal communities, public infrastructure, and ecosystems, is nothing short of astonishing.

The Coastal Protection Act was developed to respond to the unique circumstances of Nova Scotia’s coastline. It was strongly supported by coastal communities, organizations, and municipalities, and passed with all party support in the Legislative Assembly a full five years ago. It would provide certainty to coastal property owners and the public, protect the coast and its ecosystems, and ensure that Nova Scotia is well placed to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change.

It is not too late for the Government to reverse this action and move forward with the Coastal Protection Act. It is the best tool that Nova Scotia has to ensure that key preventative steps are taken to protect our coast. The Coastline Plan cannot take its place.

Additional Resources

See our open letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, urging for the implementation of the Coastal Protection Act.

See our Narrative Report documenting the work to develop the Coastal Protection Act and its regulation.

See our signature Summary Series, Environmental Law for the Coast: Nova Scotia.

Mike has been leading ECEL’s work on the Coastal Protection Act since 2018.