Lunenburg Part 1 - Introduction and Background August 30.pdf

Executive Summary
The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg is one of 13 municipalities in Nova Scotia that
participated in the Atlantic Climate Adaptation Solutions (ACAS) initiative. ACAS involves
government and non-government partners working collaboratively to help Atlantic Canadian
communities build adaptive capacity to meet the challenges of climate change. The objective of
ACAS is “to create resources and processes that facilitate routine consideration of the
adaptation measures that will guide land use and protect valuable infrastructure now and in the
future.” 1 Researchers in the School of Planning, Dalhousie University conducted a series of
projects to assist the municipalities in building this adaptive capacity. This report presents a
compilation of these projects and is organized into two major parts: Part 1, Introduction and
Background; and Part 2, comprising six constituent study reports.
The researchers examined the vulnerability of the natural and built environment of the
Municipality of the District of Lunenburg coastline to future sea level rise and storm surge
flooding and identified the consequences of inundation and flooding for physical infrastructure
and valued social assets, implications for vulnerable populations, and the capacity of the
municipal government to address the anticipated impacts and plan proactively to avoid the
negative consequences of future impacts. The results of the work are: a substantial data base
that catalogues and illustrates physical infrastructure and valued social assets at risk in the years
2025 and 2100; an understanding of how residents and community decision-makers value
assets the same, or differently, with implications for decisions around adaptation measures and
priorities in the future; identification of the distribution of vulnerable populations in the community
and the relationship between this distribution and that of sea level rise inundation and storm
surge flooding; and an assessment of the existing capacity of the Municipality of the District of
Lunenburg to adapt to climate change through planning policy and legislation, planning practice,
governance and intra- and inter-governmental and other linkages.
Based on the most recent peer-reviewed interpretations of global and local sea level rise
science, the District of Lunenburg should prepare for a 0.18 m rise in sea level by 2025 and
between 1.46 to 1.85 m by 2100 depending on which research report is used to assess
scenarios. Under extreme storm conditions, storm surge elevations could reach 3.47 m by 2025
and 5.14 m by 2100. Under these conditions, extensive areas of the coastline will experience
permanent or temporary flooding. For example, by 2025, 132 m of provincial road in the
Municipality could be inundated and 35,198 m could be flooded in the most severe storms. By
2100, the lengths increase to160 m for inundation and 58,347 m for storm surge flooding. Other
significant infrastructure that could be impacted in the Municipality includes four bridges
impacted by inundation and eight during extreme storm conditions in 2025; in 2100 the numbers
rise to five bridges impacted through inundation and nine bridges by storm surge flooding. Other
important infrastructure that could be impacted includes culverts and wharves. Natural
environments will also be affected including beaches and wetlands.
Climate change adaptation planning commonly accounts for impacts on community assets with
high economic value and assets that support critical public services such as transportation,
communication and power distribution. There are also places and spaces that are important to
community life that may not attract attention for their economic or public service function; they
are still important and relevant to the well-being of the community, however.
1 Atlantic Climate Adaptation Solutions Assocation, n.d.
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