Facilitating Climate Justice through Community-Based Adaptation in the Health Sector

Abstract

Abstract

Climate change presents real risks to human health, with the impacts unevenly distributed because of biogeophysical factors and population vulnerabilities. Although everyone is at some level susceptible to the health consequences of changing weather patterns and alterations in the geographic distribution and incidence of climate-sensitive health outcomes, there are populations and geographic regions that have enhanced vulnerability. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately represented in vulnerable groups, which include the elderly, pregnant women and children, those with chronic medical conditions, people with mobility and cognitive constraints, and the urban and rural poor. Public health interventions designed and deployed in conjunction with these groups and other relevant stakeholders increases individual and community acceptance of, and the success of, the intervention, along with reducing constraints to implementation. Community-based adaptations that address the societal, cultural, environmental, political, and economic contexts that increase vulnerability enhance community resilience to climate change as well as other stressors, providing multiple benefits. Instead of creating new mechanisms for implementing community-based adaptation, there are multiple opportunities for augmenting current programs to address the health risks of climate change. One possibility is to build on Healthy Cities or Health in Cities programs.