Working together to help Boundary Bay

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r1Dear Paov,

In Boundary Bay, on the south coast of BC, the effects of climate change will be significant.

Rising sea levels and increasing wave and storm intensity will affect shorelines, putting communities, infrastructure and rich intertidal ecosystems at risk.

The exciting news is that solutions to help our communities and ecosystems be resilient to climate change can be found in nature itself.


And you can help us continue this important work with your gift today.

As a West Coast staff lawyer specializing in green and sustainable communities, I am honoured to partner with researchers, NGOs, Indigenous nations, local communities and municipalities, on a unique pilot project called the Living Dike in Boundary Bay.

The Living Dike is an innovative, experimental and nature-based approach to protect communities in the region from sea level rise and coastal flooding. Instead of building bigger, much higher conventional dikes along the shoreline, the project is exploring how to work with nature. The idea is to enhance the salt marsh and very gradually raise its level, so it can adapt to sea level rise and at the same time absorb... wave energy and contribute to managing flood risk. This approach will have multiple benefits, protecting communities, ensuring that valuable habitat for birds and salmon persists, and even storing carbon in the salt marsh.

The Living Dike pilot must negotiate a complex jurisdictional web, as well as technical challenges. Part of our role involves bringing together a diverse group of experts and decision-makers to share information and build relationships. In its first year, the team is learning from successes and challenges, with the bigger goal of seeing these nature-based approaches adopted in other coastal areas.

This work has shown that we can work with nature to protect coastal ecosystems and adapt to climate change with multiple benefits for our communities.


Will you consider making an online gift today to help fund this work and help us continue advocating for nature-based solutions?

Your generosity and spirit in supporting this work is deeply appreciated. Thank you.



Sincerely,
Deborah Carlson
Staff Lawyer, West Coast Environmental Law

PS: To learn more about the Living Dike project, read this informative article in The Narwhal.
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