Justice and Equity Implications of Climate Change Adaptation: A Theoretical Evaluation Framework.
Climate change affects human health, and climate change adaptation aims to reduce these risks through infrastructural, behavioral, and technological measures. However, attributing direct human health effects to climate change adaptation is difficult, causing an ethical dilemma between the need for evidence of strategies and their precautionary implementation before such evidence has been generated. In the absence of conclusive evidence for individual adaptation strategies, alternative approaches to the measurement of adaptation effectiveness need to be developed. This article proposes a theoretical framework and a set of guiding questions to assess effects of adaptation strategies on seven domains of health determinants, including social, economic, infrastructure, institutional, community, environmental, and cultural determinants of health. Its focus on advancing gender equity and environmental justice concurrently with the implementation of health-related adaptation could serve as a template for policymakers and researchers.
Sustainability Research Center (artec), University of Bremen, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 7, Bremen 28359, Germany. boeckmannmelanie@gmail.com.
Melanie
M
Boeckmann
Department Prevention and Evaluation, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Achterstr. 39, Bremen 28359, Germany. zeeb@leibniz-bips.de.|Health Sciences Bremen, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany. zeeb@leibniz-bips.de.
Hajo
H
Zeeb
Public Health; adaptation; climate change; environmental health; environmental justice; ethics; social inequalities