At most places in the city, we are less than a 30-minute bus ride from the waterfront. This seemingly easy access to many parts of our waterfront is a huge draw for people from other provinces and places, with 5.5 million tourists visiting the seawall and Vancouver beaches each year. It’s also a key factor in our international brand recognition, with our proximity to the ocean and the Fraser River consistently helping to put us near the top of lists of the world’s most livable cities.

Simply put, our shores are where land and sea intersect. And with 67 kilometres of natural shoreline in our immediate proximity, it’s hard not to take it for granted. What’s not as easy to see is that our waterfront needs to be designed and managed in such a way that it can absorb the increasing pressures of urbanization, pollution, and population growth—as well as the impacts of rising sea levels and the conflicts over land use—while still giving us access to nature, facilitating healthy ecosystems, offering recreational activities, and supporting our economy.

What if we thought of our shores as a natural resource? With Vancouver’s coastal waters home to 1,200 species, including 119 classified as at-risk within the larger Salish Sea, it isn’t an outrageous idea. After all, our waterfront is a public commodity that allows many of us to work, live, and play in this city.

If we see the waterfront as a natural resource and acknowledge that without adequate planning and care it might someday look very different than today, wouldn’t we want to commit to developing a vision for its sustainability in the near and long-term future?

The Georgia Strait Alliance is doing just that, spearheading collaboration between waterfront stakeholders of all kinds. By involving all levels of government, the private sector, First Nations, labour, citizens, and more, we are working to define a common agenda that paves the way to build a prosperous and resilient waterfront. Inspired by the successful Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance in New York City, we are working to restore, protect, and revitalize our city’s shoreline through the Waterfront Initiative. Stakeholder and citizen forums have started mapping a vision for our waterfront with measurable objectives and actionable steps. It will get us closer to a healthy and prosperous shoreline that takes into consideration all parts of the city, from the ocean to the Fraser River.

We mustn’t overlook our shorelines or the positive impact they can have on our well-being. Our waterfront offers public recreational and exercise spaces, access to nature, water transportation, industry-related jobs and employment associated with the port, and marine-life ecosystems that support our communities and local economies.

There is great room for improvement, however, and a need to find a better balance between competing interests, but we must talk about it. The lack of prioritizing of our waterfront in the public agenda is concerning, particularly with the impacts of climate change becoming more notable and with the loss of industrial lands pushing businesses away from the city. This discussion deficiency is not because people don’t care but rather because there needs to be someone to take the lead in facilitating the conversation over the long term. That is our role in this journey.

Vancouver’s waterfront is a natural connector, and it has the potential to become a vital element that better links our community and economy with urban and marine ecosystems, as well as with one another. We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us; it’s one that also surrounds us.

As part of encouraging dialogue, collaboration, inclusion, and public engagement, we’re celebrating our city’s shorelines on Saturday (October 3) at the second annual Water’s Edge Day at Vanier Park. It’s an all-ages fun day, with live music and free activities from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I invite you to reconnect with our waterfront and join the conversation to begin building a better future for our coastal city.