Climate Change Frames in Public Health and Water Resource Management: Towards Intersectoral Climate Change Adaptation

Effective and appropriate climate change adaptation requires a greater understanding and appreciation of the diverse ways in which the issue of climate change is constructed and understood. The ways in which an issue is framed should not be overlooked in interdisciplinary and intersectoral efforts given that implicit and divergent frames often impede the processes of knowledge integration and collaboration and therefore, can hinder adaptation processes. This study used frame analysis to identify and summarize the climate change frames in public health and water resource management texts. Five frames emerged from the analysis of the public health texts: Preventing direct and indirect health impacts, promoting health and sustainability, climate change as a complex problem, strengthening the evidence base, and health equity in a changing climate. Three frames emerged from the analysis of water resource management texts: planning and decision-making under uncertainty, managing multiple drivers of water insecurity, and understanding impacts on complex systems. Drawing on insights from this work, we assert that the notion of frames and the process of frame-reflection are useful tools to foster integration and intersectoral collaboration and an opportunity to foster enabling conditions for climate change adaptation.