Wetlands provide important ecological, social, and economic functions that are beneficial to Nova Scotians. They minimize erosion and sedimentation of watercourses, provide a buffer against storm runoff and storm surge, store and sequestering carbon, sustain biodiversity by serving as important habitats for fauna and flora, support medicinal and ceremonial plants that are important to the Mi’kmaq, and provide hunting and recreation opportunities for the communities that have developed around them.

They're also disappearing. Around the world, wetlands are vanishing at three times the rate of forests. Urbanization, climate change, and unsustainable development in resource extraction industries have contributed to the loss of 35% of the world's wetlands between just 1970 and 2015, and the rate of loss has accelerated every year since.

About 1/4 of the world's remaining wetlands are found in Canada and 10,456sq km are found right here in the Atlantic maritime and highland ecozones. That's why NatureNS staffers Becky Parker and Jess Lewis were at Captain Spry Community Centre on Feb 2nd, co-hosting two panels on wetland protections with friends at Ecology Action Centre, one for the public and one for wetland professional. Here's a bit on what we talked about and what we heard from participants:

Law vs Policy

Though innovative in some of its approach, the Wetland Conservation Policy is not law, and therefore more vulnerable to sudden change without public consultation than the legislation governing wetlands. Where some protections for wetlands are found only in the policy and not in legislation, this puts the progress made to date and future efforts at minimizing protection gaps at risk of political interference.

Outdated Wetland Inventory

This profile of the province's wetlands likely needs updating for all wetland types but it may also require improved methodology for detecting small wetlands, which are almost certainly underestimated in the current inventory. Forested swamps were likely underestimated to begin with because of the difficulty in detecting them through remote sensing technologies, but the inventory may also underestimate other wetland types simply due to its age. Without up-to-date and accurate wetland mapping, it is only more difficult for the province, municipalities, and the public to make plans for wetland management and react to development pressures.

Lack of Standards for Development Around Wetlands

The lack of a minimum provincial standard for buffers in development and other activities near wetlands places the burden of understanding and implementing best practices on individual municipalities and landowners. Buffer size and configuration is likely to vary by wetland type, type of development/activity, and expected future pressures on the wetland, and that's a lot for a small town or individual woodlot owner to navigate on their own.

Lack of Definition for Sustainable Development

The Wetland Conservation Policy, by its own definition, "represents a commitment to managing Nova Scotia’s wetlands in a consistent manner and to maintaining a high level of wetland integrity for futuregenerations, while allowing for sustainable economic development in our communities." Though there are standardized methods for both defining a wetland and assessing the potential loss of ecosystem goods and services that wetland provides in the case of a development alteration approval, there is no process for assessing whether a proposed development is "sustainable" or not.

No Place for Mi'kmaq Engagement

Neither the policy or related legislation make requirements for indigenous consultation in wetland alteration assessments. Though under provincial law, wetlands fall into this gray area between public and private ownership, they may always be considered as treaty lands. The Mi'kmaq never ceded lands in Nova Scotia and under still-current Peace and Friendship Treaties, have the right to access resources like wetlands. Many Mi'kmaq people also claim title to these lands. In whichever case the province decides to recognize, the Mi'kmaq should be included in decision making around wetlands, as treaty participants and/or as title holders.

Conflicting Municipal and Provincial Interests

The bulk of the responsibility for managing wetlands falls, technically, with the provincial government, but in reality wetlands are managed across many jurisdictions and wetland conservation goals can conflict with other areas under municipal or provincial jurisdiction, like housing. A municipality may have particularly strong wetland management processes, even going beyond the provincial policy, but lose wetlands to provincial emergency orders or special planning processes. On the other hand, small rural municipalities with few staff and resources may struggle to conserve wetlands on their lands where the province is offering some kind of economic development partnership. Wetlands, whether municipally or provincially owned, may also be sold to private developers just as any dry land can, without public consultation.

Climate Change Complications

Though the Wetland Conservation Policy makes strides in addressing historic wetland loss, it doesn't do much for setting adaptive goals for the future. Many saltmarshes will need to recede inland in the coming years but existing legislation and policy have few protections for adjacent uplands. The Coastal Protection Act, when it comes into full force, will create a "Coastal Protection Zone" of 80-100m from the sea within which certain regulations will apply (new permits required for development, for example), but it is unclear at this point how these regulations will benefit coastal wetlands, or how anticipated saltmarsh expansion will factor into permitting processes. For other wetland types like bogs and swamps, which offer major contributions to carbon sequestration, it is unclear how the province will factor wetland loss and gains into carbon budgeting and climate change adaptation goals.

No Net Loss?

Without an up-to-date wetland inventory, we don't know if Nova Scotia is achieving its goal of "no net loss." The Wetland Conservation Policy does not stipulate that "net loss" should be measured by wetland area alone, though that is the current practice. Unless the province were to commit to an in-depth look at its goals and what it has achieved in the decade since the policy came into being, we really have no idea where we stand on the balance of ecosystem goods and services we may be losing in wetland loss or gaining in wetland restoration/creation. As a result, we cannot say for certain how Nova Scotia is contributing to national or global wetland conservation goals.

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are so grateful for the feedback from participants over our two workshops. We are now working with Ecology Action Centre to summarize the discussions we had and create a report to present to government detailing exactly "What We Heard."

In the meantime, we're working to bring more workshops to communities around Nova Scotia!

We and partners at ACAP Cape Breton, ECELaw, and Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute recently collaborated on an application for funding that would support a year-long deep dive into wetland protection gaps in Nova Scotia, and support 10 community events like this one where wetland professionals and the public can come together to plan a path forward for wetlands. You can help us meet the required matching funds by donating today!