For more than 150 years, the stout and tidy Walton Harbour lighthouse in Nova Scotia has stood watch from a cliff overlooking the upper Bay of Fundy.

But in recent years, coastal erosion left the historic wooden tower perilously close to the cliffB次元官网网址檚 edge, raising concerns that the community could lose a tourist draw and a link to its past.

B次元官网网址淚n the past 10 years or so, the erosion has increased in speed,B次元官网网址� says John Ogilvie, vice-president of the Walton Area Development Association. B次元官网网址淥n both sides, the cliff was coming inwards B次元官网网址�. We needed to find a way to protect a hugely important asset to our community.B次元官网网址�

In November, the municipality set aside $100,000 to drag the lighthouse about 45 metres inland to safety. The costly move illustrates the real impact of climate change in a part of the country where the coastline is steadily retreating, sometimes at an alarming rate.

B次元官网网址淐limate change isnB次元官网网址檛 a future thing,B次元官网网址� says Ogilvie, who is also the municipalityB次元官网网址檚 climate action co-ordinator. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 here and weB次元官网网址檙e facing it down now B次元官网网址�. And that can mean putting up big money to change the way we do things.B次元官网网址�

With 13,000 kilometres of coastline, Nova Scotia faces significant risks as storms intensify and seas rise. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e seeing more storms and theyB次元官网网址檙e are getting stronger,B次元官网网址� Ogilivie says. B次元官网网址淲e seeing that with the damage from hurricanes and the wild extremes in our weather.B次元官网网址�

Research scientist Tim Webster, an expert on coastal issues, says data he has collected during the past 20 years show the provinceB次元官网网址檚 shoreline is moving inland, on average, about 30 centimetres, or one foot, every year.

B次元官网网址淏ut thatB次元官网网址檚 a little misleading because itB次元官网网址檚 an episodic phenomenon,B次元官网网址� says Webster, who leads the geomatics research group at the Nova Scotia Community College campus in Middleton, N.S. B次元官网网址淲e could have years go by where we donB次元官网网址檛 have any erosion, and then you get a couple of big storms and all of a sudden youB次元官网网址檝e eroded a few metres.B次元官网网址�

He, too, says thereB次元官网网址檚 mounting evidence suggesting storms are becoming more intense and more frequent.

Nova Scotia and P.E.I. were battered by Hurricane Juan in 2003 and then lashed by post-Tropical Storm Dorian in 2019, but post-Tropical Storm Fiona in 2022 reached a new level of destruction, proving to be the costliest extreme weather event ever recorded in Atlantic Canada.

The storm surge recorded for Juan was 1.75 metres above regular tide levels along Nova ScotiaB次元官网网址檚 north shore, and Dorian wasnB次元官网网址檛 far behind at 1.5 metres, Webster says. But Fiona was a beast, pushing tide gauges up by 2.4 metres.

B次元官网网址淭hat was our wake-up call, suggesting this is what storms are going to be like in the future as the ocean is warming and as the climate is changing,B次元官网网址� Webster said in an interview.

B次元官网网址淚f Fiona was to happen every three or four years, it would not take long (for Nova ScotiaB次元官网网址檚 coastal erosion) to start moving in faster than one foot a year.B次元官网网址�

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Prince Edward Island released a study last year that confirmed FionaB次元官网网址檚 storm surge on the IslandB次元官网网址檚 northwest shore was so high it disabled tide gauges. The extreme water level was not recorded.

The study noted that previous research had found the average rate of coastline change B次元官网网址� measured for the entire Island between 1968 and 2010 B次元官网网址� was 28 centimetres per year. And subsequent research found the rate had increased to 40 centimetres annually between 2000 and 2010.

On the West Coast, the Canadian Coast Guard decided in July to permanently remove light keepers from two lighthouses along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island after a study found that some buildings at Carmanah Point and Pachena Point were unsafe because of unstable soil conditions.

B次元官网网址淭he priority is to ensure the safety of the light keepers, who will be moved out of the buildings before the winter weather creates additional challenges,B次元官网网址� the coast guard said in a statement.

B次元官网网址淭he land underneath the B次元官网网址� light stations is not stable enough (and) B次元官网网址� increases the risk of a slope failure in the event of a large earthquake.B次元官网网址�

At the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation in P.E.I., researchers have determined that 17 of the IslandB次元官网网址檚 61 lighthouses and range lights are threatened by coastal erosion.

Lighthouses at East Point, Cape Bear, Rustico and Cape Egmont have already been moved, while shoreline protection has been added near the light stations at Point Prim, Beach Point, Souris and West Point.

Aside from lighthouses, the centre has identified more than 1,000 Island homes and cottages that are particularly vulnerable.

The P.E.I. study also noted a further complication from climate change: During the winter, reduced ice coverage around the Island has left shorelines unprotected from big waves stirred up by storms.

That remains a persistent problem in Annandale, P.E.I., where erosion had for years undermined the soil near the townB次元官网网址檚 historic lighthouse, leaving one side hanging over the edge of the Broughton River, which empties into the townB次元官网网址檚 harbour.

B次元官网网址淎ll the storms you get in the fall and afterwards, and the high tides and storm surges, it just pounds at (the shore),B次元官网网址� says local resident Greg Norton, whose ancestors operated the tall, narrow lighthouse for generations.

B次元官网网址淪he went through a couple hurricanes and we thought for sure she would be gone B次元官网网址�. IB次元官网网址檇 say we lose a foot (of the riverbank) here every year.B次元官网网址�

The 19-metre wooden lighthouse, built in 1901, was moved about 30 metres inland to NortonB次元官网网址檚 property in 2020. For the past two years, his family has been operating the building as an Airbnb rental property.

In Walton, N.S., the townB次元官网网址檚 rescued lighthouse is now opened every summer to offer stunning views of the Bay of FundyB次元官网网址檚 world-record tides. Its white clapboard sides and red-capped lantern room present a postcard-perfect image of life in the Maritimes.

Ogilvie says visitors to the only original lighthouse in the county can still smell the kerosene that was used in its original flat-wick lamps.

B次元官网网址淧eople should see the moving of the lighthouse as something that was necessary because the erosion was right there,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淲e really need to work as communities and together as a province and a country to really address an issue that is here and now.B次元官网网址�

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press