Business Climate: How sea level rise could sink B.C.’s waterfront real estate - BCBusiness

Whenever oceanfront properties go up for sale, realtors are quick to point out the serene views, the opportunities for recreation and the cachet that comes with owning a prized piece of B.C. real estate. But those pitches may need to shift as the effects of sea level rise slowly take hold, in what Simon Fraser University earth sciences professor John Clague calls “a potential disaster in slow motion.” As yet, most property owners haven’t experienced significant effects of sea level rise. But as the warming ocean expands and storms worsen, municipalities including Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver and others are bracing for a half-metre sea level rise by 2050, and a metre by 2100—if not sooner. A City of Vancouver interactive map shows that, without adaptation measures, Granville Island, Kits Beach, Jericho Beach and the outer bands of Coal Harbour, the West End, the Downtown Eastside and Stanley Park, as well as many areas along the Fraser River, could all be underwater. The same is

Whenever oceanfront properties go up for sale, realtors are quick to point out the serene views, the opportunities for recreation and the cachet that comes with owning a prized piece of B.C. real estate. But those pitches may need to shift as the effects of sea level rise slowly take hold, in what Simon Fraser University earth sciences professor John Clague calls “a potential disaster in slow motion.” As yet, most property owners haven’t experienced significant effects of sea level rise. But as the warming ocean expands and storms worsen, municipalities including Vancouver, Richmond, North Van