ENVIRONMENTAL CONNECTION / THIRD QUARTER 2025 / IECA.ORG 33 By Emillie Rose Green Infrastructure Innovation Captures up to 98% of Sediment in Coastal Erosion The Atlantic shores on the Eastern side of North America face particular challenges due to climate change and sea-level rise. Canada is expected to warm at nearly twice the global rate, and significant storm events are happening with greater frequency and intensity. Due to land subsidence, or the sinking of the coastline due to the last glaciation, the relative sea-level change is expected to be higher than the global average in the Atlantic region, with a rise of 60 to 100 cm (24 to 40 inches) predicted. The shorelines are particularly vulnerable to erosion. Thousands of public and private properties are already being affected along Atlantic coastal communities. Erosion rates for coastal bluffs in Nova Scotia are as high as 10 m (11 yards) per year for newly exposed headlands.1 Sea-level rise and increasing storm intensity are accelerating coastal erosion. Coastlines are dynamic, living ecosystems that transform naturally through erosion, sediment transport and deposition. While many landowners build hard armour walls to protect individual properties from erosion, this grey infrastructure comes with high costs, ecosystem damage, biodiversity loss and limited efficacy. Helping Nature Heal (HNH) is an ecological restoration company based in Nova Scotia, Canada. They work with nature to restore living shorelines (Figure 1). HNH was driven by the challenge of effectively addressing coastal erosion using a sustainable green infrastructure alternative to hard armour, which presents secondary effects. This challenge has led to the development of Living Shorelines, which is a three-part method for coastal protection that has resulted in up to 98% sediment capture. Living Shorelines is a soft engineering approach to mitigate the effects of erosion on waterfront property without endangering the coastal ecosystem (Figure 2). It includes: • Application of condition-specific native plant companion groupings. • Low-tech green techniques for planting on steep and eroding slopes. • A plant nutrition product, Abundance root booster, that stimulates root growth. This 100% natural organic soil booster Figure 1. Soil stabilization, Prince Edward Island (PEI) (2022). Photo credit: Helping Nature Heal. >> CALL FOR INNOVATION PEER REVIEW Sustainability Through Innovation This article is part of Environmental Connection’s mission to help grow the industry by promoting innovative research, products and technology that meet industry needs through more sustainable approaches. Articles in future issues will continue to provide multiple perspectives to promote ongoing efforts to protect natural resources.
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