The Coastal Coalition 1.0

The original Coastal Coalition was formed in 2004 to begin, in ernest, the conversation of coastal protection. The Coalition was made up of many community advocacy groups, scientists, coastal experts and NGOs including The Ecology Action Centre and East Coast Environmental Law (ECeLaw). This coalition laid the foundation for the Draft Strategies for coastal protection that was compiled by the NS Oceans Network.

The Coastal Coalition 2.0

The present-day Coalition was formed after the Houston Government reneged on its election promise to proclaim the Coastal Protection Act. Sixty advocacy groups, NGOs and individuals make up this new version of the Coastal Coalition, including members from the original partnership.

Our mission is to persuade the Houston Government to change course and proclaim the Act. In the long term, the Coalition aims to pick up where the orginal alliance left off and continue to work towards protection of Nova Scotia’s unique coast.

The Coastal Protection Act was unanimously passed in 2019, by all 3 parties in the Legislature, with the goal to:

“…protect the Province’s coast for future generations by preventing development and activity in locations adjacent to the coast that

(a) damage the environment by interfering with the natural dynamic and shifting nature of the coast; or

(b) put residences and buildings at risk of damage or destruction from sea-level rise, coastal flooding, storm surges and coastal erosion.”

Discussions of coastal protection and the effects of development on erosion rates and changes to the coastline started in the 1970’s – almost 50 years ago! The Coastal Coalition (1.0) began a push to develop province-wide strategies that would regulate development, protect fragile coastal ecosystems and habitats and help to keep coastal communities safe. This development went through a Liberal government, a PC government, an NDP government, back to a Liberal government and now back to the Conservatives. Public consultation over a course of many years, was thorough and conclusive. Support for this Act was widespread. Yet, in February 2024 this Act was not proclaimed. Instead Tim Halman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change in the Tim Houston PC Government, ignored the overwhelming public support for the Act and devised a plan that would transfer responsibility of Nova Scotia’s coastline to property owners, developers and municipalities.

The original Draft Strategy (2011) dealt with 7 key issues:

1. Coastal development
2. Working waterfronts
3. Public coastal access
4. Sea level rise and storm events
5. Coastal ecosystems and habitats
6. Coastal water quality
7. Governance

The Coastal Protection Act only covers 3 of these issues. It is not perfect, but it is a start and would have provided a consistent set of rules for the whole province. The three issues are:

1. Coastal development
2. Sea level rise and storm events
3. Coastal ecosystems and habitats