Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Canadian Jurisdictions

Stephanie E. Austin, James D. Ford, Lea Berrang-Ford, Malcolm Araos, Stephen Parker and Manon D. Fleury
Additional contact information
Stephanie E. Austin: Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall Building Room 705, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
James D. Ford: Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall Building Room 705, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
Lea Berrang-Ford: Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall Building Room 705, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
Malcolm Araos: Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall Building Room 705, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
Stephen Parker: Enteric Surveillance and Population Studies Division, Centre for Food-borne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, 255 Woodlawn Road West, Unit 120, Guelph, ON N1H 8J1, Canada
Manon D. Fleury: Environmental Issues Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, 255 Woodlawn Road West, Unit 120, Guelph, ON N1H 8J1, Canada

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-29

Abstract: Climate change poses numerous risks to the health of Canadians. Extreme weather events, poor air quality, and food insecurity in northern regions are likely to increase along with the increasing incidence and range of infectious diseases. In this study we identify and characterize Canadian federal, provincial, territorial and municipal adaptation to these health risks based on publically available information. Federal health adaptation initiatives emphasize capacity building and gathering information to address general health, infectious disease and heat-related risks. Provincial and territorial adaptation is varied. Quebec is a leader in climate change adaptation, having a notably higher number of adaptation initiatives reported, addressing almost all risks posed by climate change in the province, and having implemented various adaptation types. Meanwhile, all other Canadian provinces and territories are in the early stages of health adaptation. Based on publically available information, reported adaptation also varies greatly by municipality. The six sampled Canadian regional health authorities (or equivalent) are not reporting any adaptation initiatives. We also find little relationship between the number of initiatives reported in the six sampled municipalities and their provinces, suggesting that municipalities are adapting (or not adapting) autonomously.

Keywords: climate change; adaptation; Canada; public health; adaptation tracking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/1/623/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/1/623/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:1:p:623-651:d:44555

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().