Coastal Zone Canada 2025 Conference information, including program and abstracts, can be found here
Abstract
Nature-based coastal adaptation is a subset of nature-based approaches to environmental planning and management that has, to this point, focused on the physical aspects of managing coastal risks: what our coastal protections are made of or where we put things that are in the way of harm. In our collaborative interdisciplinary work we have been reimagining nature-based coastal adaptation to start with first principles: how we think about the coast and what makes a good coastal life. In a nature-based approach our shared sense of what is good and possible, also known as the social imaginary, needs shifting before any physical material, or plans, or rules. We present a new nested framework for thinking about nature-based coastal adaptation that proposes a new relationship with the shore using five words starting with R: Reimagine, Reserve, Relocate, Restore, Reinforce. We use the nature-based adaptation option of managed dyke realignment in the Bay of Fundy agricultural dykelands to illustrate the utility of the framework in practice.
Citation
Sherren, K., Manuel, P., Tuihedur Rahman, H. M., Wells, E., Rapaport, E., & Van Proosdij, D. (2025). Reimagining the shore: 5Rs for a good coastal life. Coastal Zone Canada Conference, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, 9-11 June 2025.
Related Blog Post
Khan, J., Legault, A., MacDonald, B.H., Manuel, P., Margeson, M., Martinez Calderon, D., Webster, A., & Wells, P.G. (2025, July 30). Strengthening Coastal Resilience and Relationships: Reflections on the 2025 Coastal Zone Canada Conference. EIUI Blog. https://eiui.ca/strengthening-coastal-resilience-and-relationships-reflections-on-the-2025-coastal-zone-canada-conference/