To the Citizens and Visitors of our Region

We would like to present EcoVision2025, a collective strategy involving three municipalities and various organizations and community groups. This strategy is an effort to encourage and collaborate on the implementation of actions that aim to ensure a healthy environment and a high quality of life for the citizens of the Shediac and Cap-Acadie (formerly Cap-Pelé and Beaubassin-Est). This community-based initiative employs a tiered approach, with short, medium and long-term actions that represent our commitment to valuing and preserving our resources and our natural areas. It is an indispensable tool that will allow us to reach our environmental objectives while adapting to the effects of climate change.

“EcoVision2025 identifies actions that will help ensure a healthy environment that can support economic development, a high quality of life and vibrant communities, all within the reality of a changing climate. Actions are short-, medium-, and long-term, and prioritized into ones that are easy to implement and with a high impact. Lead agencies and/ or organizations are identified and encouraged to become engaged.”

We, Cap-Pelé, Shediac and the rural community of Beaubassin-est, our partner organizations the Greater Shediac and Cap-Pelé/Beaubassin-est Chambers of Commerce, the Greater Shediac Sewerage Commission, Centre-ville Shediac Downtown Inc., Vision H2O and the Shediac Bay Watershed Association, will strive to work towards implementing relevant actions.

How EcoVision2025 was Developed

During the months of October 2017 through April 2018, Aster Group organized 2 public surveys (>128 participants), 3 public meetings (>72 participants), and 4 focus group meetings (>67 participants) and participated in an Open House in Shediac. In addition, sixteen meetings with stakeholders and organizations were organized, as well as 6 meetings with municipal representatives. A project website and Facebook page were kept updated, and notes and records from meetings were uploaded as they became available to ensure transparency. A number of stakeholders also met to discuss the education and outreach actions specifically, and to provide input into the website. At the beginning of the process, 13,000 copies of an information sheet were mailed to households in the region to invite broad participation. Contact information was provided, and by April 2018, 117 individuals had signed up to an e-mail list.

Throughout the engagement process, first environmental concerns, and then ideas for actions to address those concerns were compiled. These actions are presented on the website. They are presented under 7 theme areas, or EcoVision 2025 Goals, with an additional overarching subject area identified in each.

EcoVision 2025 Goals

1. To protect and improve water quality in our freshwater and coastal environments, and to promote water conservation. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards the elimination of all raw sewage and contaminated runoff entering waters through better sewage treatment, the implementation and enforcement of septic system and boat holding tank mandatory pump outs, and the education of tourists and the public.
2. To conserve and enhance the natural environment and ensure natural systems are healthy and resilient, and to restore and protect our coastline and wetlands. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards the protection and rehabilitation of existing natural ecosystems such as wetlands and the coastal zone (beaches, salt marshes, etc.), strong buffers to those ecosystems, and education of the public about the importance of natural areas such as wetlands and the coastal zone.
3. To reduce carbon emissions by maximizing energy efficiency and moving forward with the transition to renewable energy. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards increasing the energy efficiency of municipal buildings, businesses and private homes, and increasing the use of all renewable energy technologies.
4. To reduce the amount of waste we generate, and support and promote the 5 R’s (refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle), and to engage the public in more advanced waste management strategies that protect our environment. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards the implementation of waste separation for businesses, apartment buildings and municipal operations, and educate the public and tourists on how our waste management system works and why we need to reduce our waste.
5. To support a productive agricultural industry that protects our water resources, and to support local food systems and promote the consumption of local food to residents and tourists. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards the growing and use of local food in schools, businesses, and the public, and the promotion of local food products to tourists and the public.
6. To implement, support and promote efficient, active and shared transportation systems. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards better active transportation opportunities such as trails, efficient cars, and shared as well as public transportation services.
7. To adapt to a changing climate and to increase our resiliency in the face of change. Actions that will have the greatest impact and will achieve the above goal are those that work towards reducing risks from climate impact such as restricting and regulating development in risk zones as identified by the provincial government, encouraging those that live in risk zones to move or improve their buildings so that they can withstand risk better and to plan for retreat in the long-term.

EcoVision2025 Implementation

Of particular interest to participants was the need to maintain momentum, communication and engagement, as well as transparency. The partners have identified the mechanism by which they will engage with others to work on implementing the actions, and implementation of this mechanism will begin without delay to keep stakeholders and partners engaged.