Climate change is a growing challenge to everyone’s health and wellbeing. People who are already vulnerable, such as older adults, children, and those with existing health conditions, are especially at risk. The changing climate, with increasing heat, flooding, and droughts, affects every aspect of our lives from the air we breathe to the homes we live in and the food we eat
In this Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the climate and ecological emergency is recognised as a health emergency, with critical cross-cutting issues that influences health, wellbeing, and inequalities across Devon. The hotter temperatures, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation pose direct and indirect risks to physical and mental health.
Taking action to reduce the severity of climate change is essential to support more resilient communities, sustainable infrastructure, and a better environment for current and future generations.
JSNA Observations
Climate change is impacting on the building blocks of good health which are the essential conditions that support wellbeing, such as safe housing, reliable transport, secure employment, and access to nutritious food. These impacts are not only indirect but manifest in direct impacts, particularly for vulnerable groups including older adults, children, and those with pre-existing conditions.
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) highlights the importance of a ‘Health in All Policies’ approach, which connects climate action to the wider determinants of health. This ensures that efforts to address climate change also strengthen the building blocks of health, helping to create healthier, more resilient communities.
Climate change contributes to a wide range of health challenges, including increased illness and mortality from extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms, and floods. It also affects mental health, disrupts food systems, and increases the spread of infectious diseases further undermining the foundations of good health. The following information outlines the climate change impacts across a variety of themes:
Health Risks from a Changing Climate
- Extreme Weather & Air Quality: More frequent heatwaves, storms, and floods are causing injuries, fatalities, and service disruption. Rising temperatures also worsen air quality, increasing respiratory and cardiovascular issues especially for vulnerable groups. Climate change can increase pollen production and extend pollen seasons, exacerbating respiratory conditions such as asthma and hay fever.
- Infectious Diseases: Warmer, wetter conditions are expanding the range of disease-carrying organisms like ticks and mosquitoes, raising the risk of illnesses such as Lyme disease and potentially introducing new threats like dengue.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
- The stress and uncertainty of climate change, along with the trauma from events like flooding, can lead to long-term mental health impacts, including anxiety, depression, and reduced wellbeing.
Food, Water, and Economic Security
- Climate change threatens food and water supplies, leading to shortages and rising costs. This disproportionately affects low-income households, impacting nutrition, health, and financial stability.
Strain on Health and Care Systems
- Service Disruption and Infrastructure Damage: Floods and heatwaves can delay emergency responses, damage hospitals and care homes, and interrupt power and transport.
- Workforce Pressures: Increased health risks and environmental stressors place added strain on health, care, and manual workers, potentially leading to staff shortages and reduced service capacity.
- Emergency Preparedness: Without robust planning, systems may be unprepared for climate shocks, risking continuity of care and access to essential services.
Disproportionate Impact on Vulnerable groups
- Older adults, infants, people with chronic illnesses, those experiencing homelessness, and low-income households are most at risk from the health and service impacts of climate change.
Water Quality and Public Health
- Pollution Events: Increasing incidents of pollution in rivers and coastal waters across Devon pose risks to public health, biodiversity, and recreational use.
- Health Impacts: Exposure to contaminated water can lead to gastrointestinal illnesses, skin infections, and other health issues, particularly for swimmers and those using water for recreation.
Example: Housing and Health in a Warming Climate Climate change is making Devon homes increasingly vulnerable to overheating. A recent study indicated that the majority of homes in the UK now overheat during summer months. Living in an overheated home can lead to serious health issues, including cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. The conditions disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, especially younger and older populations. Other impacts, such as sleep quality, concentration, and productivity, can impact other building blocks of health, such as employment. Measures taken to insulate homes against cold can also improve resilience to heat, whilst reducing further impacts to the climate and day-to-day running costs.
Local Insights, Lived Experience and Research: Climate Change
While quantitative data is strong, lived experience adds depth to our understanding of climate impacts:
Flooding and Coastal Erosion: Residents in flood-prone areas like Dawlish and the South Hams have shared concerns about repeated flooding, property damage, and the emotional toll of displacement.
Heatwaves and Housing: Social housing tenants in Devon have reported difficulty coping with extreme heat in poorly insulated homes, especially those with health conditions.
Community Resilience: At the Devon Prepared conference, community members and local leaders shared examples of using village halls as emergency centres and churches as cool hubs during heatwaves, highlighting the need for localised, community-led adaptation planning.
Mental Health and Anxiety: Public health engagement sessions have surfaced growing concern among young people about climate anxiety and the long-term future.
Source: Devon Prepared | Devon Communities Together, Translating the Lived Experience of Heatwaves into Policy Action – University of Bristol
Gaps in insights and local research
Further engagement is required to understand the experience of the following groups in relation to climate impact:
- Children and young people: Particularly around Eco-anxiety and school disruption
- People with disabilities: Accessibility during extreme weather events
- Ethnic minority communities: Culturally appropriate climate adaptation
- Health and care workers: On service resilience and emergency response
- Urban residents: Where climate impacts intersect with housing and deprivation (particularly in Exeter)
Climate Change Priorities for Devon
1. Policymakers & Local Government:
a. Build emergency response partnerships
b. Support integration of climate, health and equity in all policies.
c. Raise awareness of health and equity co-benefits of climate change action
d. Provide local climate impact information
e. Increase public understanding of coastal climate impacts
2. Organisations & Businesses:
a. Develop a regional water strategy
b. Promote soil management
c. Support community nature projects
d. Improve flood and drought management
e. Expand climate action groups
f. Create flood plans for continuity
g. Develop plan to reduce zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance
3. Community groups
a. Devon, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Resilience Forum (DCIoS LRF): Includes a Whole of Society Resilience strand, promoting collaboration across sectors to enhance emergency planning and climate adaptation.
b. Devon Community Resilience Forum (Managed by Devon Communities Together): Supports communities with Whole of Society Resilience, including emergency planning, flood risk awareness, and community-level preparedness.
c. NAVCA Voluntary & Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP): A national network supporting voluntary sector involvement in emergencies. Devon is an active member, contributing to coordinated responses and resilience planning.
d. VCSE Assembly Climate Change Membership Networks: Facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing, and advocacy among voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations working on climate-related issues.
4. Individuals
a. Assess and adapt to extreme weather vulnerabilities
b. Install rainwater systems
c. Enhance property flood resilience
d. Check insurance and upgrade water fittings
e. Use porous surfaces and passive cooling measures
f. Maintain buildings and guttering
5. Monitoring and Data
a. Strengthen the collection and use of local climate and health data to monitor emerging risks, inform targeted interventions, and support timely decision making
6. Local insight
a. Invest in locally-led research and actively engage communities to capture lived experiences, ensuring that climate and health strategies reflect real-worlds needs, vulnerabilities, and strengths
For more information, please visit the following:
–Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Adaption Plan
– Home – Energy and Climate Change
– Climate Change – Devon Health and Wellbeing