scholarly journals Depoliticizing And Humanizing Climate Change Through A Public Health Frame: A Case Study Of Ontario’s Climate Change Policy Discourse

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luckrezia Awuor

The relevance of a public health frame in supporting the climate change impact awareness and consensus on actions is well recognized but largely underutilized. Overall, supporting public health’s capacity in climate change has focused on projecting and highlighting public health impacts due to climate change, identifying public health policy responses, and emphasizing public health role. The integration of the public health perspective in the discussion and communication of climate change ideas has remained elusive.<div>Climate change is also a complex social problem whose construction of meaning and actions is rooted in institutionalized language, discourse, and human interactions. Thus, understanding of the construction of the relevance of public health in climate change discourse is central to understanding the impediments of the public health frame application. Unfortunately, this has been a neglected area of research, and the dissertation responded to that gap. </div><div>To delineate the impediments of the public health frame, the study used the case study of the context of climate change policy discourse in the Province of Ontario (Canada) to examine the construction of public health relevance, the extent of public health frame application, and the systematic influences in the discourse.</div><div>The analysis of policy documents and key informant interviews revealed that the public health frame remained isolated from the primary focus of Ontario’s climate change policy discourse. Instead, Ontario’s historically and socially constructed climate change as an economic and political issue solved through market strategies and technological innovations forwarded by political, bureaucratic, and technological elites. The focus substantiated the types of structures and processes of policies and decisions, the relevant actors and knowledge, and the values supporting the discursive, normative, and strategic practices. Ontario’s focus also limited the utilization of the public health frame and the supporting capacities through the misalignment between public health and the provincial strategic actions, the lack of recognition and integration of public health roles, mandate and structures, and limited public health capacity building initiatives.</div><div>Therefore, public health framing as an endpoint of climate change discourse requires legitimation of public health in the underlying institutional structures for, and governance of, climate change. </div>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luckrezia Awuor

The relevance of a public health frame in supporting the climate change impact awareness and consensus on actions is well recognized but largely underutilized. Overall, supporting public health’s capacity in climate change has focused on projecting and highlighting public health impacts due to climate change, identifying public health policy responses, and emphasizing public health role. The integration of the public health perspective in the discussion and communication of climate change ideas has remained elusive.<div>Climate change is also a complex social problem whose construction of meaning and actions is rooted in institutionalized language, discourse, and human interactions. Thus, understanding of the construction of the relevance of public health in climate change discourse is central to understanding the impediments of the public health frame application. Unfortunately, this has been a neglected area of research, and the dissertation responded to that gap. </div><div>To delineate the impediments of the public health frame, the study used the case study of the context of climate change policy discourse in the Province of Ontario (Canada) to examine the construction of public health relevance, the extent of public health frame application, and the systematic influences in the discourse.</div><div>The analysis of policy documents and key informant interviews revealed that the public health frame remained isolated from the primary focus of Ontario’s climate change policy discourse. Instead, Ontario’s historically and socially constructed climate change as an economic and political issue solved through market strategies and technological innovations forwarded by political, bureaucratic, and technological elites. The focus substantiated the types of structures and processes of policies and decisions, the relevant actors and knowledge, and the values supporting the discursive, normative, and strategic practices. Ontario’s focus also limited the utilization of the public health frame and the supporting capacities through the misalignment between public health and the provincial strategic actions, the lack of recognition and integration of public health roles, mandate and structures, and limited public health capacity building initiatives.</div><div>Therefore, public health framing as an endpoint of climate change discourse requires legitimation of public health in the underlying institutional structures for, and governance of, climate change. </div>


Author(s):  
Luckrezia Awuor ◽  
Richard Meldrum ◽  
Eric N. Liberda

Public health engagement in the communication, discussion, and development of climate change policies is essential for climate change policy decisions and discourse. This study examines how the existing governance approaches impact, enable, or constrain the inclusion, participation, and deliberation of public health stakeholders in the climate change policy discourse. Using the case study of the Canadian Province of Ontario, we conducted semi-structured, key informant interviews of public health (11) and non-public health (13) participants engaged in climate change policies in the province. The study results reveal that engagement and partnerships on climate change policies occurred within and across public health and non-public health organizations in Ontario. These engagements impacted public health’s roles, decisions, mandate, and capacities beyond the climate change discourse; enabled access to funds, expertise, and new stakeholders; built relationships for future engagements; supported knowledge sharing, generation, and creation; and advanced public health interests in political platforms and decision making. However, public health’s participation and deliberation were constrained by a fragmented sectoral approach, a lack of holistic inter-organizational structures and process, political and bureaucratic influences, irregular and unestablished communication channels for public health integration, and identities and culture focused on functions, mandates, biased ideologies, and a lack of clear commitment to engage public health. We conclude by providing practical approaches for integrating public health into climate change discourse and policymaking processes and advancing public health partnerships and collaborative opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Pizarro ◽  
Raúl Delgado ◽  
Huáscar Eguino ◽  
Aloisio Lopes Pereira

Identifying and evaluating climate expenditures in the public sector, known as budget tagging, has generated increasing attention from multiple stakeholders, not only to assess the governments climate change policy, but also to monitor fiscal risks associated with increasing and unpredictable climate change impacts. This paper explores the issues raised by climate change budget tagging in the context of a broader discussion on the connections with fiscal and environmental statistical classification systems. It argues that, for climate change budget tagging efforts to be successful, the definitions and classifications of climate change expenditures must be consistent with statistical standards currently in use, such as the Government Finance Statistics Framework and the System of National Accounts.


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Zoe Onutu

Numerous theoretical accounts have attempted to capture the dynamics of the idiosyncratic transatlantic relations, whether they were merely simplified polarized depictions or sophisticated analyses. As a recent variant of the balance of power theory, the ‘soft-balancing’ thesis has been developed within this context as a useful explanation for other states’ attempts to undermine and retain the power of the US using non-military instruments. By employing the climate change policy field as a case study, this paper aims at testing the relevance of this theoretical concept on one of the most prominent examples of the transatlantic rift. The arguments brought forward reveal significant limitations of the ‘soft-balancing’ thesis when explaining the transatlantic climate divide, which casts doubt on its merits in capturing power relations in general.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Oliver Lah

<p>Changes in the global climate and the insecure future of the world's energy supply place unprecedented risks and uncertainties before mankind. Massive changes need to occur, driven by effective policies. But what is the ideal climate for change? With a case study on insulation policies for the residential building sector this thesis aims to identify the conditions for a climate for change. This thesis explores the factors that help or hinder change and the structures that enable change and enhance implementation. Within a particular policy area, i.e. residential home insulation, this thesis examines the impacts on policy development and implementation of environmental and resources pressures, the strength of centre-left and green parties and the levels of corporatism in New Zealand and Germany. The case study of insulation policies in New Zealand and Germany has been chosen because of similar policy aspirations and rhetoric in the two countries but differing policy achievements and outcomes. The thesis compares three decades of policy making and implementation in Germany and New Zealand and finds that, if environmental and resource pressures are high, corporatist structures may impact positively on climate change policy development and implementation. It also finds that in pluralist countries centre-left and green party strength may be more important for the success of climate change policies than in corporatist countries.</p>


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