Coastal Zone Canada 2025 Conference information, including program and abstracts, can be found here
Abstract
Nova Scotia’s coastline is valued by the public for a multitude of purposes, yet increasingly, public access to Nova Scotia’s coast is constrained by its continued reliance on informal arrangements for private land crossings, which are jeopardized by the impacts of climate change and changing land ownership patterns. Known as “Canada’s Ocean Playground,” Nova Scotia promotes itself as a place where coastal spaces exist for the benefit of present and future Nova Scotians. We argue that the shore is thus a public good, access to which is integral for the public to benefit. This paper lays out this argument by drawing on legal, planning, coastal zone management, and human ecology perspectives to explore the coastline, and by extension access, as a public good. Using two recent court cases, we demonstrate how Nova Scotia’s approach to managing coastal access is one of “governance through ownership.” In this model, primary responsibility for managing coastal access is vested in private coastal property owners. Governance through ownership is shown to promote social conflict, as private property owners become de facto gatekeepers to a public good in the public eye. The result is eroding coastal access as existing property rights are prioritized in civil courts over novel conceptions of collective rights of access. As such, Nova Scotia’s approach fails to manage coastal access as a public good. We conclude with a discussion of potential proactive provincial policies that would recognize access to the coast as an inherent extension of the coast as a public good.
Citation
Eisner, S., Harrison, H., Manuel, P., Kofahl, M., & Baxter, J. (2025). Squeezed from both sides: An analysis of legal mechanisms, judicial trends, and limitations in maintaining coastal access in Nova Scotia, Canada, with implications for future coastal management. 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/