səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Visualization Project
Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) is a regional leader in environmental stewardship and is actively working to enhance the health of ecological systems in Burrard Inlet, which are intricately linked with the health and wellbeing of Tsleil-Waututh People.
Building on TWN’s past climate change resilience planning, the Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Visualization Project engages TWN community members, staff and external organizations in a visioning exercise aimed at developing conceptual options for how to mitigate climate change impacts to the TWN shoreline, lands and infrastructure, marine intertidal ecosystems and sensitive cultural sites. The objective is the co-development of flood adaptation solutions that improves TWN access to Burrard Inlet, healthy marine foods, cultural transmission, spiritual well-being, and way-of-life.
The study area represents approximately 5 km of shoreline, encompassing TWN’s main reserve but also extending west to Maplewood Mudflats and east to Whey-ah-Wichen/Cates Park. The Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Visualization Project uses applied, design-based research with creative visualization techniques to engage TWN community members, staff and external organizations in an exploration of spatial and temporal changes to the shoreline in response to sea level rise over the next 175 years (7 generations).
Questions addressed by Living with Water:
How can shoreline adaptation strategies be applied in a coordinated, cohesive, and cost-effective manner, both spatially and temporally, in response to changing climate conditions? And how should these shoreline adaptation strategies be phased?
How can shoreline adaption measures protect the TWN community from the impacts of sea level rise, coastal flooding and erosion while at the same time restoring safe community access to the Burrard Inlet shoreline?
What challenges and opportunities may present in implementing shoreline adaptation strategies across jurisdictional boundaries and shoreline governance authorities?
How can food security and local Indigenous knowledge be coupled with coastal flood adaptation strategies?
How are Indigenous perspectives included at different stages of the project?