Eastern Shore Citizen Science Coastal Monitoring Network (ESCOM)
Background:
Camilo Botero and I met at what we jokingly call a “speed dating session” one evening in 2023 on a NS Environmental Network Zoom meeting. The Environmental network used breakout rooms so people could have one on one conversations about their particular environmental interests and get to know each other.
That is when Camilo first pitched the idea of a partnership between Dalhousie University and DEN. I admit that I was a tad sceptical about his dream, but willing to hear him out. We met several times over the next few months and during those conversations, I started to “get it” and the project began to take shape.
As I explained in my report to Dio Council in my September 2023:
“Camilo’s area of expertise has been healthy beaches and coastlines. His dream is to undertake a project that will focus on Nova Scotia coastlines. His goal is to engage local communities in his research and increase public awareness about the importance of our coastlines to ensure the health and wellbeing of one of our greatest assets.”
Camilo envisioned engaging local churches and communities on the Eastern Shore in the project. It took me no time to realize that a parish’s involvement would not only benefit the project and the environment, but it could benefit local parishes as well, helping to connect or reconnect the parish with the local community in a meaningful way.
As partners in this project, each parish's contribution would be to provide infrastructure and human resources (Anglicans and others in the local community who would gather data for the research). Participants would receive the training required to become "citizen scientists".
The parish’s involvement would be an opportunity to strengthen the parish’s connection with the local community, be a way of to live out our commitment as Anglicans to the 5th Mark of Mission and help DEN and the parish fulfill two parts of a motion adopted unanimously at Diocesan Synod in 2019.
“d. form small groups to take leadership on environmental issues within each parish and to connect with the Diocesan Environment Network.
In this case, the project would provide training, offer community information sessions, and coordinate, compile and interpret the data for research that would contribute to knowledge necessary for the maintenance of a healthy coastline.
It could be attractive to parishes who struggle financially because it would require no financial commitment from the parish, and just as important, would not add to present responsibilities for parish leaders, but would increase awareness of the presence of the church in the community.
As a partner, DEN would seek funding, offer support and work with parishes in achieving the goals of the project, and the missional activity of the parish.
What was envisioned was the development of community monitoring of coastal ecosystems and climate change events, and citizen scientists would emerge as leaders in the community.
DEN would be involved in facilitating the strengthening of local leadership, empowering people in each parish and community while gathering standardized information on coastal parameters related to climate-related threats.
Our diocese is organized into ten regions, with most of our parishes located in coastal locations. (We have a lot of coastline.) The area between Musquodoboit Harbour and Canso includes six parishes and thirty-three church buildings along what is known as the Eastern Shore. Some of these churches are on the coast or very near to it where daily activities depend on a healthy coastline and are highly affected by climate change events.
The premise when the project began was that parishes could lead environmental activities that raise awareness about safeguarding the integrity of creation and the involvement of the Diocesan Environment Network (DEN) would be to help to bring together, in common cause, parishioners and local communities.
The damage to the coastline was evident when I took my first few trips down the Eastern Shore for meetings with people from the Parish of Port Dufferin.
Hurricane Fiona had a dramatic, damaging impact on communities along the eastern shore that included coastal erosion…
As we explained in the funding application: It is important to be prepared for future extreme climate events in communities along the Eastern shore, including a community based and focused understanding of the issue of the impact of climate change and importance of maintaining healthy coastlines.
So, the goal of The Eastern Shore Citizen Science Coastal Monitoring Network has been to train citizen scientists to monitor coastal ecosystems, gather information that will improve the ability to safeguard the coastal ecosystem and prepare local communities for extreme climate-related events (Hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, etc.).
I admit that the term “citizen scientist” was new to me when Camilo and I first began to discuss this project. But since then, I’ve learned that Citizen scientists play an important role in research and can play a crucial role in ocean and shoreline conservation.
I don’t have to tell you how many disasters have been triggered by natural hazards related to water… or how many people have been affected by water-related disasters and the resulting infrastructure loss and damage. Floods, droughts and storms can have enormous human and economic impact and are expected to have an increasing impact because of climate change necessitating a better understanding of the extent and nature of water-related losses and damage, and how to reduce risk and adopt adaptive measures to better deal with climate change.
In rural communities where generational relationships are built on harmonizing with nature, the feeling of being powerless and vulnerable to climate change has become evident. I expect that is not limited to the Eastern Shore. In this case, fishing families might not be strangers to the power of the sea and the weather but like us all, people now expect to see dramatic changes in their lives and livelihood.
Like so many other places, when intense storms hit, communities do rally and volunteer support. Neighbours help neighbours, where and when possible, but now, with the expectation of more intense weather events, it has become important to establish safe centers where community members can gather, have a meal or warm drink, and obtain water for washing and drinking.
But it isn’t just a matter of riding out storms, with increasing climate-related risks, the conservation of coastal ecosystems is crucial. Most initiatives related to climate change focus on adaptation of daily life to its effects, but not much attention has been paid to learning about the power of nature to equip communities for a more pro-active response.
As Camilo and I discussed when we first met, Governments are doing as much as they can to monitor the health of coastal ecosystems, but we need sufficient and reliable information for timely decision making. Local communities and civil society could support the generation of knowledge related to the restoration or degradation of those key ecosystems and how we can reduce the effects of climate change on people. Citizen science can be a powerful tool to accomplish that.
We believed that a partnership between Camilo, DEN and the Parish of Port Dufferin could result in increasing the capacity of the communities the parish serves to deal with climate change and its impact on their communities and coastal ecosystems. Working with the local community, the church, in its effort to care for creation, could build a stronger relationship with the communities it serves, and as it evolved over that first year, the response began to generate excitement in the community.
I attribute a great deal of the success to immediate buy in from The Rev Mike Foley, the priest in the Parish of Port Dufferin. Mike “got it” right away. He understood how it could have a positive impact on the coastline, resulting in a positive impact on the community.
That year, Mike drew in an important player, the local school. The principle and a science teacher met with us and a small group of potential volunteers from the parish. The timing was perfect for the science teacher, who was for the first time teaching a course called Oceans 11. The project fit perfectly into the course.
We held a few “Lunch and Learns” where a people from the community were invited, then training sessions began. And Camilo’s enthusiasm was infectious.
This project was developed to enable data collection for research that will contribute to healthy coastlines, engage people, and empower them so they can have a positive impact on climate change, and build stronger relations between the church and the communities they serve.
In the end, (which was actually only the beginning), the research continues, longer-term academic funding has been secured, AND we met our objectives.
In the end, this is really about caring for the earth and each other.
As Beth Lorimer, who works for Kairos Canada, recently wrote:
We are not called to care for creation because it is easy or because it will lead to quick, measurable results. We are called because we are part of creation – not separate from it. The earth is not a backdrop to our lives; it is a sacred gift, and we are in relationship with it. Like any relationship, it requires care, attention and love.
Finally, I would like to thank the bishop for her support.
Thanks to our funders: the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, now known as Alongside Hope, and their Hurricane Fiona Resilience Response Fund, the Diocesan Mission Outreach Project Fund, the Anglican Foundation, The Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia, and Dalhousie University.