'It isn't a future thing.' Climate change is taking a toll on Canada's lighthouses
The recent decision to move a Nova Scotia lighthouse inland to prevent it from falling into the Bay of Fundy is highlighting the impact of climate change on the province's coastline.
For more than 150 years, the Walton Harbour lighthouse stood watch from a cliff overlooking the bay -- but in recent years, coastal erosion had left the wooden tower perilously close to the edge. John Ogilvie, vice-president of the Walton Area Development Association, says the rate of erosion has increased in the past 10 years.
In November, the municipality spent about $100,000 to drag the lighthouse to a safer location about 45 metres inland. The Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation in PEI has determined that 17 of the Island's 61 lighthouses and range lights are threatened by coastal erosion.
