The evolution of coastal protection discussions in Nova Scotia

Concerns about beach mining in the 1950s and ‘60s led to the Beaches Protection Act in 1967, replaced by the Beaches Preservation and Protection Act, 1975 and Regulations, 1976, and revised in 1989, the Beaches Act. This statute is the only provincial law specifically addressing protection of a coastal-specific environment by “provid[ing] for the protection of beaches and associated dune systems as significant and sensitive environmental and recreational resources” (Beaches Act. R.S., c. 32, s. 1)

Interests and conversations broadened to integrated coastal zone management in the 1970s and the province set up a coastal zone management issues group with an executive director for coastal zone issues. No strategy or plan came out of the initiative.

Sustainable development was popular in the 1980s and ‘90s. Coastal 2000: A Consultation Paper, developed under the Nova Scotia Land Use Planning Committee and released in 1994, proposed a strategic planning framework for sustainable economic development of the coast. The initiative disappeared.

Integrated coastal management returned in the early 2000s. In 2004, citizen groups concerned about poor (no) regulation of coastal development and its environmental impacts formed the first Coastal Coalition. The Coastal Coalition developed a citizen-led, bottom-up vision for Nova Scotia’s coast and pushed for provincial coastal management. Between 2006 and 2008, a provincial interdepartmental group called the Provincial Oceans Network (PON) developed a Coastal Management Framework which led to a Draft Coastal Strategy in 2011, supported by a commissioned State of Nova Scotia’s Coast Technical Report (Our Coast) released in 2009. The Coastal Coalition and many other groups, institutions, agencies and individuals contributed to the Draft Coastal Strategy. The Draft Strategy laid out actions to address seven coastal issues: coastal development; working waterfronts; public coastal access; sea level rise and storm events; coastal ecosystems and habitats; coastal water quality; and governance. The Draft Strategy disappeared with the change in government in 2013, but you can read it here

Coastal protection became the theme between 2018 and 2021 with the development of the Coastal Protection Act, 2019, intended to protect the coast from people and people from the coast. The legislation picked up a few themes from the 2011 Draft Coastal Strategy – coastal development; coastal ecosystems and habitats; and sea level rise and storm events. The Coastal Protection Act was approved in 2019 but was not proclaimed into law. Work to develop the Regulations, – between 2019 and 2023, was officially terminated by the Conservative government on February 26, 2024 when it released its alternative approach to coastal protection: “The future of Nova Scotia’s coastline – a plan to protect people, homes and nature from climate change”. This approach is a collection of supports (tools, guidebooks and, for municipalities, access to expertise) promoted to property owners and municipalities to protect their own shorelines against climate change impacts.

The conversation continues.