This work takes place in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in eastern Canada. It particularly focuses on a set of coastal communities located along the Northumberland Strait in southeast New Brunswick, called the Greater Shediac where a fast urbanization of the littoral is taking place since the last decades. Indeed, even if located in such a northern latitude, this area benefits a climate softened by the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean that attract an increasing number of new residents and visitors. In this area, the sea has always occupied an important cultural place. Indeed, the province totalizes 5 500 km of coastline with 60% of its population living by the sea. While the economy has been based on fishing and aquaculture for a long time, another sector developed rapidly in the last decades. Tourism quickly developed in the Greater Shediac and contributed to community development but raised its own challenges. Thus, the Greater Shediac area has been recently experiencing a constant demographic growth that came with an accentuation of the coastal activities that are not without any repercussions on the natural environment. The increasing pression exerted by tourism and demographic growth that resulted on fast urban development are responsible for ecosystems and biodiversity degradation, making the natural environment more deteriorated and vulnerable. In the same time the shoreline is strongly impacted by the consequences of climate change. Climate change effects represent considerable new challenges both for human communities and coastal ecosystems. The littoral has been impacted by erosion and powerful storm surges that have demonstrated the need to raising the alarm bell. The need for adaptation to the new climatic parameters would represent an important challenge for the Greater Shediac communities that would have to foresee and establish a proper strategy on the long term if they want to ensure their development. One of the issues that these communities encounter is that they are not endowed with enough political and decisional power as well as financial and human means to establish an ambitious adaptation strategy. Adaptative technologies to address climate change are often expensive and require a specific amount of human and intellectual capital that the Greater Shediac coastal communities are lacking. In this work we will demonstrate that other simpler tools exist to face climate change effects, some tools that might help to contribute to local development in the same time. One of the possible solutions evoked in this work consists on the development of a vast recreational plan that will able those communities to address both the problems raised by climate change and fast urbanization. We believe that a recreational plan, combined with a set of quite simple policies and infrastructures, could contribute a lot to improve the local frame of life and in the same time make the societies more adapted to the changing environment. By changing the actual model of development into something more sustainable both for the natural ecosystems and the communities, the development of a trail network along the littoral stand as a possible path toward adaptation.
Questo lavoro si svolge nella Provincia del New Brunswick all’est del Canada. Si tratta di un gruppo di comunità costiere che si trovano lungo lo Stretto del Northumberland, al sud-est del New Brunswick, chiamato il Greater Shediac. In questa zona si osserva una rapida urbanizzazione della costa che è cominciata negli utlimi anni. Nonostante queste comunità si trovino a delle latitudini nord, il clima locale viene mitigato dall’influenza dell'Oceano Atlantico ed attira un numero crescente di visitatori e residenti. In questa zona, il mare ha sempre formato parte integrante della cultura. Effitivamente, la provincia totalizza più di 5 500 chilometri di costa e circa il 60% della popolazione vive vicino al mare. Mentre l’economia della regione è sempre stata tradizionalmente basata sulla pesca e l’aquacoltura, un altro settore economico che si è rapidamente sviluppato negli ultimi decenni è il turismo. Il turismo è velocemente diventato un settore importante per la comunità del Greater Shediac ma ha anche introdotto nuove sfide. In effetti, la crescita demografica è diventata considervole nel Greater Shediac e nel frattempo le attivà costiere si sono intensificate. Questa situazione ha avuto una ripercussione sull’ambiente naturale. Le forti tensioni esercitate dalla crescita demografica che hanno contribuito alla rapida urbanizzazione della costa sono responsabili del degrado degli ecosistemi e della biodiversità. Così l’ambiente naturale si trova più deteriorato e vulnerabile. Nello stesso tempo il litorale viene duramente colpito dalle conseguenze del cambiamento climatico. Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico rappresentano delle sfide scoraggianti per le comunità umane ma anche per gli ecosistemi costieri. Il litorale subisce gli effetti combinati dell’erosione e di potenti tempeste, motivo per il quale si è sentito il bisogno di lanciare l’allarme. La necessità di adattamento ai nuovi parametri climatici rappresenta una sfida importante per le comunità del Greater Shediac. Dovranno prevedere ed elaborare una propria strategia di lunga durata se volessero garantire il loro sviluppo. Uno dei problemi principali che queste comunità incontrano è la mancanza di potere politico e decisionale ma anche la mancanza di risorse umane e finanziarie per l’elaborazione d’un piano d’adattamento ambizioso. Le tecnologie di adattamento che esitono per rispondere alle minacce del cambiamento climatico sono spesso costose e richiedono una grande quantità di capitale umano e intellettuale di cui le comunità del Greater Shediac maggiormente deficitano. Con questo lavoro verrà dimostrato che strumenti semplici esistono per far fronte agli effetti del cambiamento climatico e nello stesso tempo questi strumenti possono contribuire allo sviluppo locale. Una delle soluzioni possibili menzionata qui è lo sviluppo di un vasto piano ricreativo che potrebbe contribuire ad aiutare queste comunità a risolvere i problemi provienienti dal cambiamento climatico e della rapida urbanizzazione della costa. Crediamo che un piano ricreativo, combinato con una serie di regole e pratiche semplici, può profondamente migliorare le condizioni di vita locale e nello stesso tempo favorire l’adeguamento ai cambiamenti ambientali. Cambiando il modello attuale di sviluppo in un modello più rispetoso e sostenibile per gli ecosistemi naturali e le comunità, ovvero la creazione di una rete di sentieri litorali rapresenta una possibile via di adattamento.
The Northumberland coastline. Between galloping urbanization and climate change : recreationnal planning as a tool toward adaptation
BLANC, GUILLAUME MARC SÉBASTIEN
2017/2018
Abstract
This work takes place in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in eastern Canada. It particularly focuses on a set of coastal communities located along the Northumberland Strait in southeast New Brunswick, called the Greater Shediac where a fast urbanization of the littoral is taking place since the last decades. Indeed, even if located in such a northern latitude, this area benefits a climate softened by the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean that attract an increasing number of new residents and visitors. In this area, the sea has always occupied an important cultural place. Indeed, the province totalizes 5 500 km of coastline with 60% of its population living by the sea. While the economy has been based on fishing and aquaculture for a long time, another sector developed rapidly in the last decades. Tourism quickly developed in the Greater Shediac and contributed to community development but raised its own challenges. Thus, the Greater Shediac area has been recently experiencing a constant demographic growth that came with an accentuation of the coastal activities that are not without any repercussions on the natural environment. The increasing pression exerted by tourism and demographic growth that resulted on fast urban development are responsible for ecosystems and biodiversity degradation, making the natural environment more deteriorated and vulnerable. In the same time the shoreline is strongly impacted by the consequences of climate change. Climate change effects represent considerable new challenges both for human communities and coastal ecosystems. The littoral has been impacted by erosion and powerful storm surges that have demonstrated the need to raising the alarm bell. The need for adaptation to the new climatic parameters would represent an important challenge for the Greater Shediac communities that would have to foresee and establish a proper strategy on the long term if they want to ensure their development. One of the issues that these communities encounter is that they are not endowed with enough political and decisional power as well as financial and human means to establish an ambitious adaptation strategy. Adaptative technologies to address climate change are often expensive and require a specific amount of human and intellectual capital that the Greater Shediac coastal communities are lacking. In this work we will demonstrate that other simpler tools exist to face climate change effects, some tools that might help to contribute to local development in the same time. One of the possible solutions evoked in this work consists on the development of a vast recreational plan that will able those communities to address both the problems raised by climate change and fast urbanization. We believe that a recreational plan, combined with a set of quite simple policies and infrastructures, could contribute a lot to improve the local frame of life and in the same time make the societies more adapted to the changing environment. By changing the actual model of development into something more sustainable both for the natural ecosystems and the communities, the development of a trail network along the littoral stand as a possible path toward adaptation.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Northumberland Coastline-07-04-2019-Guillaume-Blanc.pdf
accessibile in internet per tutti
Descrizione: Thesis text
Dimensione
13.74 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
13.74 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/147237