Resources for Planning for Sea Level Rise

Did you know?

• Canada has the longest coastline in the world – approximately 151,019 miles (243,041.5 km) (ref: World Atlas)
• In British Columbia, 80% of population lives within 5 km from the coast.
• 59 municipalities out of 169 municipalities are coastal, 14 out 28 regional Districts consist of coastal communities.
• 10 or so municipalities and regional districts have completed floodplain mapping between 2008-2013
• The length of the coast is approximatively 29,000 km including the mainland and all islands from Haida Gwaii south to Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands
• Coastal population: 3,500,000
• Major ports: Metro Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Victoria
• In BC, the government is planning for Sea Level Rise (SLR) using this data: 0.5m sea level rise by 2050 and 1m by 2100
• BC communities won't be affected by sea level rise in the same way due in part by vertical land movement.The highest relative sea level rise are projected to occur in the Fraser low land, the southern part of Vancouver Island and the North Coast of British Columbia
• The greatest threat to communities along the coast besides sea level rise is storm surge flooding.Coastal communities are already dealing with extreme water levels.
• Global sea levels have been rising over the past century, however, the rate has increased in recent decades – in 2014, sea levels were 2.6 inches higher than 1993 average (NOAA 2017)
• An increase in temperature of 1 degree C elsius = 0.2 to 0.6 rise in sea level