| Abstract [eng] |
The effects of human induced climate change are one of the most dangerous challenges that we have faced in the entire history of humanity, they affect every aspect of life, nature, society, and are widely acknowledged by experts as the “greatest threat to public health”. It is clear that there needs to be urgent action to address these risks and that effective and holistic systems of climate change and public health governance are necessary to tackle the challenges. To date there is a large body of research on the effects of climate change but only a small percentage addresses the public health risks and how they can be governed, additionally most research covers either polar or tropical regions with a lack of study on Northern Europe and the Baltic states specifically. There are many proposed ideas on how to mitigate climate change effects, but a lack of study on the actual methods being used by national and regional governments, as well as the methods with the results, for effective governance and risk management of these public health threats. This is true both on a global level and even more so on a national level in Lithuania. This paper poses the question: How are climate change threats to public health governed in Lithuania? By looking at the range of public health risks that are caused or increased by climate change, and the governance and risk theories and frameworks that can be used in tackling them it aims to assess the governance of climate change induced risks to public health in Lithuania. There are four research objectives: Conceptualisation of governance of climate change induced risks to public health; A systematic review of climate change induced risks to public health in Lithuania; Developing methodology for assessment of the governance of climate change induced risks to public health in Lithuania; Empirical analysis and assessment of how climate change induced risks to public health are governed in Lithuania. The theoretical chapter employs scientific literature analysis and also relies on the overview of policy relevant documents at national, European Union and global levels. The empirical analysis and assessment employ secondary data, statistical data, and document analysis. Key findings from this research are: there are several immediate climate change induced public health risks affecting Lithuania; climate change and the associated health risks are a global issue and there is a need for integrated and binding international agreements and policies; plans and strategies in Lithuania have evolved over the last decade but there is a need for continued risk management refinement; a holistic and integrated approach to governance is needed across not only different government agencies but also stakeholders at all levels; there is an uneven approach to addressing the public health risks that come from climate change, with widely varying levels of preparedness. This work is structured into three main parts. The first part is theoretical, it conceptualizes governance and describes the health risks induced by climate change. The theoretical chapter concludes with a summary and a presentation of the conceptual model, which is further used in the empirical study. The second part is the methodological part where the data sources, methods and processes of this work are presented. The third part is empirical; the analysis of governance of climate change induced risk to public health are based on a risk management framework and a comprehensive analysis of legal documents in Lithuania to address governance of climate change. |
