SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary

July 25th 6:30-8:30 PM Town of Lockeport Recreation Centre 26 North Street, Town of Lockeport NS B0T 1L0 Over 25 people showed up at the recreation centre – locals from the Town of Lockeport, residents from neighbouring communities, municipal staff and council. Representatives from the Provincial Emergency Management Office and National Defense came to the event to provide support and address any questions folks may have about their role in planning for a changing climate. Questions about Sea-Level Rise Pre-Workshop

- What is RCP? What is temperature increase relative to the RCP?

RCPS: Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are the temperature projections from low emission scenarios to high emission scenarios. The uncertainty and why we have the range of different scenarios is because we are trying to account for how we will behave. How we will deal with our GHG emissions is the reason there are so many different projections or scenarios. If we do not decrease our emissions, we are looking at the higher projections (the RCP 8.5 model or higher). • The larger the amount of emissions

we emit, the more likely we are to be on the high emission pathway.

• How we behave with GHG emissions will determine which path of sea-level rise we will follow - RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6, 8.5 or something more extreme!

4 main pathways: o RCP 2.6 (low) o RCP 4.5 o RCP 6 o RCP 8.5 (high) o + more extreme

SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary

- CO2 rising o Ice age, warming for years. Although this is true, the amount of warming has

increased above the natural cycle since the Industrial Revolution. This increase is has been significant as our human consumption of fossil fuels has increased.

Mayor’s Talk: The town is already seeing the impacts of a changing climate. Water levels are already over the decking where people walk during some high tide events. Hurricanes, storms, high wind damage is already an issue for the town. Boulders put up for protection are being pulled back into ocean. Working with EMO to develop alternative route outside the Town. Mapping Activity: Identified sea-level impacts and vulnerable areas were added to our interactive map on the website(http://sealevelrise.ca/map.html). Identified Sea-Level Impacts and Vulnerable Assets in the Area

- MCAP: several areas of high risk - Cranberry Island: land forms have changed in the

past - created and separated - John Street: Ravine to Freddy beach. If breached,

John Street could be separated from Lockeport. - Causeways:

o Want alternative solution to causeways. Bridge in 50s deteriorated and causeway put in on sandbar, very vulnerable.

o Calf Island homes: almost cut off. Contract to build Calf Island Road up to protect it.

o Need second emergency access bridge for walking, ambulances, buses, evacuations.

o Mayor has authority to commandeer, heavy equipment to help in emergency situations. NSP substantial flooding

o Tidal surge: coastal policy and strategy in place - Allendale hardscaping their property - Raise road bridge - Bridge street: people were there. Need alternative shape, suggestions of how. But

follow engineers and areas. Local expertise collaboratively.

SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary Vulnerable Area Breakout Discussion: Causeway + Access What is happening? Tidal and storm surges breaching the causeway – no alternative route/access to get outside the Town. Storm surge is coming up from the backside of the causeway as well. Who needs to be involved?

- Citizens - Council - Knowledge experts - Fire Department/First Responders - Fishers - Funders – government (all levels) - Universities and research institutes - Engineers & Planners

What approaches would help this

situation? What Issues could arise from this approach?

- Vertical Allowances - Hard-scaping (presently used) - Living Shorelines - Coastal Policies & Strategies (#1

priority)

- How does this impact the vegetation and habitat of back harbour

o Already impacting piping plover habitat

- Living shorelines would remain vulnerable

- Cannot control storms and storm surges

What else could be done? - Add in culverts? - Educate youth and residents – “over communicate” the message - Have someone manage a project - Partnerships to gain economy of scale - Engineer study for bridge to town (calf island road)

Who needs to be involved?

- Citizens - Council - Knowledge experts - Fire Department/First Responders - Fishers

- Funders – government (all levels) - Universities and research institutes - Engineers & Planners

SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary

BARRIERS OPPORTUNITIES What is standing in your way?

- Funding & Cost o Low tax base for town

- Expertise - Lack of community engagement - Magnitude of events - Complexity of events - Regulations - Aging population

Local resources you have and people/groups you can call on?

- Historical knowledge - Clearwater & RB Fisheries/Fisher people - Local contractors

o Heavy equipment - Fire Department - EMO

What would help change that barrier? - Research - Partnerships - Education and building awareness - Communication - Government funding - All levels of government step up to develop policy

Sea-Level Rise Solutions Identified by the Community

- Traps on sand dunes to help erosion

- Raised road or installing bridge

- More workshops for community to come together and make sense of situation. Need more data to help talk to government and get support.

- Get government support - Alternative in case of emergency commandeer to help evacuate boats - More advocacy and news coverage - Bigger message to media: send pictures, contact media - Amalgamation: regional approach to help get support - Service districts: group together

Resources

SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary

- Interactive maps: developed by UofW with grad students. Only 3 community members came along with councillors.

- EMO: supporting Municipality of Lockeport by training emergency teams, supporting Mayor. Remediation to help when issues arise, to fix things.

o Does military need to come out? o EMO needs federal and provincial

resources to handle 26 municipalities - CAN-EWLAT: DFO vertical allowance map.

Corresponds with temperature increases and RCP

Other reflections from community members

- We don’t know our human behavior. Hopefully, we move to expand community lifespans.

- Drought not mentioned in MCAP, but now it is popping up as wells are going dry

- Need to keep this conversation going This workshop was part of the Educating Costal Communities About Sea-level Rise (ECoAS) project; an initiative designed to translate scientific climate change research into useable information to educate coastal communities in Atlantic Canada about the need for planning for future sea-level rise impacts. The ECoAS project is partnership between the Ecology Action Centre and Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is financially supported by the aforementioned organizations.

SEA LEVEL RISE & YOU Workshop Summary