Lunenburg Part 1 - Introduction and Background August 30.pdf

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During community workshops and while visiting a community engagement booth, local residents identified places and spaces that they consider important to community life. Frequently identified social assets included Lunenburg District’s many beaches, parks, trails and fishing and boating areas. Many residents described the entire coastline as an important social asset, noting nearness to the ocean, picturesque coastal communities, and the healthy natural environment as valued features. Spending time near the water, as well as enjoying scenic walks, bicycle excursions and drives, are important recreational activities in the District of Lunenburg. In all, residents of the Municipality identified a total of 284 social assets through the mapping exercises. Of that total, 148 are affected in the sea level rise and storm surge scenarios generated for the Lunenburg District ACAS projects. One-hundred and eight social assets are affected by sea level rise inundation and extreme storm surge scenarios with the rest (40) impacted only by the most extreme storm surge. Fifty-one of the affected assets are located outside the area covered by the flood scenarios generated using LiDAR data. These assets do, however, lie between 0 and 5 m elevation, as measured from contour interval mapping and are thus at an elevation impacted in the extreme storm surge scenarios. The impacts of sea level rise and storm surge will vary for different types of assets. Some could be destroyed or damaged significantly: board walks are vulnerable to such impacts; sensitive coastal features such as beaches and wetlands that do not have the opportunity to adjust through land-ward migration are particularly vulnerable. Other features may suffer temporary impacts (road flooding, for example). Two-thirds of identified valued assets are at risk and many of these features hold strong significance for the area. The District of Lunenburg may use the database of social assets to ensure that places and spaces that contribute to community life and enjoyment are considered in climate change adaptation planning. Residents and decisions makers in the District of Lunenburg generally agree on the type of assets that contribute to a sense of community, community enjoyment and community wellbeing. Residents placed beaches, beach and coastal access and walking, bicycling and hiking trails at the top of the list of features and experiences significant to the community. Decisionmakers, too, consistently and frequently referred to beaches as the primary social asset of the area. They also identified fire halls and community halls for their social (meeting) function as well as their utilitarian purpose in providing emergency service and shelter. Residents of the Municipality will experience the impacts of climate change to varying degrees and some impacts will affect some people more significantly than others. Some people will have the individual or collective capacity to avoid impacts altogether or recover from them quickly. Others in the population will not. Factors influencing vulnerability include age, income, employment status, level of education, ethnicity, and gender, among others. There are people in the District of Lunenburg who, because of a combination of risk factors and circumstances, are vulnerable in difficult events or circumstances. The Municipality’s extensive and irregular coastline results in high exposure to the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge. Sea level rise alone could disrupt access in some areas, and hundreds of residences could be either inundated or isolated under the storm surge scenarios. Fortunately, few services that socially vulnerable populations rely on in the District of Lunenburg are likely to be impacted. Damage to roads and power lines are a significant concern, and could increase social vulnerability by causing loss of electrical power, the isolation of residents from essential services, and disrupted access by emergency services. Lack of land use planning in the majority of the District of Lunenburg allows new construction in at-risk locations, increasing the number of residents who could be directly affected. v
The assessment of social vulnerability provides the Municipality with the knowledge necessary to incorporate considerations of social vulnerability into emergency management planning. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various geographic areas will allow emergency management planners to target each area with the most appropriate type of assistance, in order to reduce overall vulnerability. A key strategy of climate change adaptation is to decrease vulnerability and risk through land use and development practices that are responsive to the climate change impacts. Strategies include a combination of avoiding or moving back from vulnerable locations (such as those prone to flooding and erosion), employing designs that take into consideration challenging conditions (such as elevating structures where flooding might occur) and protecting valuable infrastructure or spaces (with natural or engineered barriers) when other options are not practical for the circumstance or available. The main concern is to reduce the risk to people and property and to protect the natural processes and structures that provide resilience to impacted environments. Understanding the extent of impacts and vulnerability and having the planning and management tools available to respond are key elements of adaptation capacity. The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg has varied capacity with its current governance, administrative and legislative structures and tools to adapt to coastal climate change impacts. The municipality has strengths in its governance and administrative capacities. There is a generally high level of awareness among council members and municipal staff regarding climate change and its impacts in the Municipality. Many have become attuned to climate change through the ACAS projects but, even prior to these projects, also through the integrated community sustainability plan (ICSP) making process. Staff is highly trained in climate change impacts and aware of planning tools and best practices for implementing adaptation. The Municipality operates jointly with other municipalities or agencies in initiatives of direct relevance to climate change adaptation (notably emergency response planning). For planning initiatives, the Municipality identifies climate change adaptation as an objective in its ICSP, has taken full advantage of the ACAS program, and is underway with its Municipal Climate Change Action Plan. In formal plans and legislation, the Municipality’s strongest tools are the Open Space Strategy and the zoning and land use by-laws for coastal land protection, and environmental protection in the secondary plans of three coastal communities. Otherwise, the Municipality must rely on provincial legislation for the remainder of the municipality to achieve some protection of, at the very least, sensitive coastal environments. The most important constraint to climate change adaptation planning in the District of Lunenburg is the lack of comprehensive land use planning across the Municipality and along the majority of its coastline. Staff recognizes this limitation. The District of Lunenburg is a rural municipality of many small communities each with its own traditions. Private land use control is culturally significant in this municipality and council and staff respect this community concern. However, development at the coast is now more intense than in the past and private infrastructure is placing people and environments at risk in a time of uncertain future climate and coastal conditions. Indications are the conditions will become more hazardous. The other major constraint is the lack of control over critical transportation infrastructure planning in the Municipality. For this, the Municipality must rely on the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal because most of the roads within the District of Lunenburg are under provincial jurisdiction. While on the surface this arrangement may seem like a benefit, financially, the problems emerge where locally significant access is at risk (in a flood or erosion prone area) but not a priority at the provincial level, or where land development and transportation planning are not easily coordinated. vi
Page 1 and 2: Atlantic Climate Adaptation Solutio
Page 3 and 4: Report: This report was commissione
Page 5: Executive Summary The Municipality
Page 9 and 10: Table of Reports Part 1 Introductio
Page 11 and 12: Introduction The Municipality of th
Page 13 and 14: scenarios for the years 2025 and 21
Page 15 and 16: identify actual and opportunities f
Page 17 and 18: a questionnaire-based survey of res
Page 19 and 20: Adaptability and Adaptation Adaptat
Page 21 and 22: communities also become apparent. S
Page 23 and 24: Closer to the coast, on the western
Page 25 and 26: The 2006 median household income in
Page 27 and 28: References Atlantic Climate Adaptat

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