HALIFAX—Nova Scotia is proposing legislation that would set rules for coastal construction and protect features such as salt marshes and dunes as sea levels rise in the future.

Environment Minister Margaret Miller says the new Coastal Protection Act will ensure clear provincewide rules for what can and cannot be done along the province’s vulnerable coastlines.

Miller says the legislation is about adapting to the province’s changing climate.

She says it doesn’t apply to ongoing construction but is meant to prevent “today’s problems from happening to tomorrow’s homes.”

The department says accompanying regulations — setting out such things as how close construction will be allowed to the shore — are still another 12 to 18 months from being completed.

It says there are about 60,000 properties that already touch on salt water in the province.

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