ID: 1481
Presenting Author: Chris Buse
Session: 642 - Enhancing the credibility and impact of climate change and health impact assessments
Status: pending
Credible knowledge and robust partnerships are required to drive adaptation action from climate and health assessments.
Climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments have gained the attention of public health and health system decision-makers as a mechanism for documenting health risks and promoting adaptation options that improve population health. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience piloting such assessments in the Canadian context, this paper shares observations around how the use of credible data and multi-sectoral partnerships can strengthen local climate action. In documenting lessons-learned from several Canadian case studies led by the author, this paper highlights leading data sources, practical assessment approaches, risk characterization, and adaptation prioritization techniques. It ends with a discussion of the scalability and applicability to other contexts, and the tradeoffs between broad population health protection goals, and equity-oriented solutions targeting specific populations that are either differentially exposed, more physiologically sensitive, or who lack adaptive capacity to a variety of climate and health hazards.
Dr. Chris Buse is an Assistant Professor with Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Health Sciences where he leads BC-REACH (Research on Equitable Adaptation to Climate and Health).