Natural and Nature-Based Solutions – Design Standard for Natural Coastal Features

This standard development project would aim to support innovation in the field of Natural and Nature-Based solutions for coastal settings by providing requirements for the design and implementation in the Canadian context. The coastal environment is extremely dynamic and subject to continual change in response to a variety of driving factors, including climate change (e.g. sea level rise, and changes in storm intensity and frequency). There are known drawbacks associated with traditional engineering approaches to maintaining coastal defenses using “hard” structural measures, rather than allowing the natural evolution of the morphological and ecological system. Such drawbacks include a limited capacity to adapt to long-term changes in the coastal system (and therefore, escalating risk) and compression/loss of subtidal habitat with rising sea levels (“coastal squeeze”). Increasing attention is therefore being given to the potential for more natural solutions to coastal erosion and flood risk challenges. Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option for combatting Canada’s rising flood costs. Natural infrastructure includes “nature-based” engineering solutions for coastal flood and erosion risk reduction, which take advantage of the inherent capabilities of natural features (such as beaches, wetlands, barrier islands, reefs, and headlands) to prevent or mitigate flooding and erosion. The growth in research and interest surrounding NbS has led to the proliferation of numerous reports and guidance documents relevant to the implementation of NbS for coastal flood and erosion risk management. With a few exceptions, the majority of guidance is relatively high-level, and lacks either the technical detail or region-specific contexts needed to support effective design and implementation of NbS for coastal flood and erosion risk management across Canada. Collectively, however, available and emerging guidance provides a sound foundational basis for working towards implementation of best practices through a Canadian national standard and design guide. The benefits of national standardization and guidance would include mainstreaming of NbS principles, education of stakeholders and potential proponents on factors affecting the performance of NbS, and increased investor confidence in NbS projects. A technical standard is needed to enable design and implementation of effective and sustainable NbS in Canadian coastal zones and help improve confidence amongst stakeholders and decision-makers regarding use of NbS compared to grey infrastructure.