Green Shores | How it works

Green Shores has been created to encourage solutions that treat land in a shore-friendly way. It applies to all types of shorelines in both marine and lake environments – from rocky shorelines to sand and gravel shores, estuaries to mudflats, cobble and boulder beaches to coastal bluffs.

Green Shores is Science-Based

Green Shores designs dissipate wave energy, reduce storm surge and lessen flooding. They also restore habitats, coastal ecology, sediment transport processes and natural areas.

Green Shore Principles:

• Preserve or restore physical processes such as the natural actions of water and sediment movement that maintain healthy shorelines.
• Maintain or enhance habitat function and diversity along the shoreline.
• Prevent or reduce pollutants entering the aquatic environment.
• Avoid or reduce cumulative impacts. Small individual effects add up to large impacts on shoreline environments.

Ratings and certification option

Green Shores is a voluntary, incentive-based program similar to green building rating programs such as Built Green™ and LEED™. Shoreline projects receive points for design features from four categories of credits for the Green Shores for Homes Program and ten credits for the Green Shores for Shoreline Development Program. View our Ratings and Reports and Guides on our Resources page.

Adapting to Sea Level Rise

Enrolling and participating in a Green Shores Program is one way to adapt to, and prepare for, rising sea levels.

The images below compare hard armouring and Green Shores soft armouring approaches. The dotted line in the water is 1 m of sea level rise.

In the top image, a barrier like a sea wall is erected. The foreshore is eliminated, and it’s only possible to see over the barrier by climbing up on a platform.

The lower image shows a Green Shores solution for a gravel or pebble beach. In this case, the natural foreshore remains, and access to the beach is preserved.

The design above is just one of many examples.

Visit Green Shores Case Studies page for more examples of successfully completed Green Shores for Homes and Green Shores for Shoreline Development projects and learn about applied measures and principles.