Impact of Climate Change on Elderly People in City of Busselton, Australia

This study assesses the impact of climate change on the wellbeing and health of elderly people in City of Busselton, Australia. The study identifies negative and positive health impacts due to climate change and suggests measures to mitigate the negative impacts. The stakeholders identified in this issue are directly involved in the process.

Running head: HEALTH AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Impact of climate change on the elderly people in City of Busselton, Australia
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction- the impact of climate change on the ageing population is creating issues
the world over and it is going to increase in the coming decades. The ill effects of the climate
change are felt world over and have negatively affected the lives, well-being and the health of
elderly people world over. The elderly population that are residing in the countries that have
low to middle income are constantly exposed to the risks because the elderly people are the
most vulnerable section of the society (Leyva, Beaman and Davidson 2017). This topic has
interested me because there is a need to properly assess the impact on climate on the
wellbeing and health of the elderly people. The older people are affected more by the
increased effects of temperature, and the extremes of temperature have severely increased the
mortality risks. The high probability of the risk is due to the stress on the water and food
supply, reduced mobility and increased susceptibility towards disease. I have found from the
literature that the economic and the social factors also play a role in increasing the
vulnerability of the older people. This study is based on the impact of climate change on the
elderly people in City of Busselton, Australia.
Background of the issue- According to the IPCC, weather reacted to extreme events
are more intense and extreme due to the increase in the global temperature rise. This trend
will continue to rise in future considering the fact that the carbon emissions are continuing to
rise unabated. With the rise in temperature, heatwaves, droughts and the floods will continue
to rise and this will pose a threat to the humans in the future (Ipcc.ch 2018). Thus, the global
climate change will bring with it the common share of vulnerabilities that will change the
course of life. The older people are the major risk of social isolation and chronic health
problems (Götschke et al. 2017). This will put a lot of pressure on the already strained limited
services. Older people face the lack of proper access to the healthcare services and this
creates a climate-related stress. Due to this, the minor condition has a probability of
becoming a major condition and this decreases the ability of the older person to cope with the

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vulnerabilities (Kabir et al. 2016). Often the older people play a vital role in the family and
they perform a range of activities, however, activities often get hindered due to the several
impacts of the climate change. During the emergencies, it has been seen that the older people
are unwilling to move out of their house due to the lack of mobility. Thus, the older people
struggle to travel long distances, obtain food and also lack the capability to endure long
periods without shelter. The stakeholders identified in this issue are directly involved in the
process (Carnes, Staats and Willcox 2013).
Floods: the recent rise in temperature has led to the river floods and an increase in the
global sea level rise. This has led sea water and flood water to intrude into the residential
areas and dismantling the normal process of life. The older people are the worst sufferers
from the impact of flood and the associated flood-related diseases (Cann et al. 2013). Thus,
causing high rates of mortality. In comparison to the other age group, the older people are the
worst affected population due to secondary health problems like heart-related issues and
hypothermia (Bei et al. 2013).
Hurricanes and typhoons- with the global rise in temperature, the intensity of the
storms have increased and this has substantially increased the rates of precipitation. There are
pieces of evidence that point towards the fact that the older people are most likely to suffer
the most due to the lack of mobility and insufficient evacuation facilities. This is worst
among the older people that are socially isolated, chronically ill, disabled and poor (Lane et
al. 2013).
Heatwaves- the global increase in temperature has increased the rates of severe
weather events and this, in turn, has led to the events like extreme heatwaves in regions that
are already experiencing high temperatures throughout the year (Trenberth 2012). It has been
estimated by older people that the young children and the older people are most affected by

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the issues related to heatwaves and additionally every year about 38,000 deaths occur due to
heatwaves. Also, individual health problems increase due to the existing health problems like
the cardiovascular diseases (Kenney, Craighead and Alexander 2014).
Screening process-
Tendency
to do an
HIA
To your knowledge:
Tendenc
y not to
do an
HIA
Yes Are there potential positive and/or negative health
impacts of the policy, program, or project to be
assessed that need further investigation?
No/ maybe
No/ maybe Are there any major political obstacles/barriers to
successfully completing a health impact assessment
on this policy, program or project?
Yes
Yes/ maybe Are the individuals and organizations with a stake in
this policy, program or project likely to buy into the
HIA process? No
Yes Is your organization willing to act as the lead agency
in conducting the health impact assessment on this
policy, program or project, OR have you contacted
another organization that will?
No
Yes Are the combined resources of the lead agency and its
partners likely to be sufficient to complete an HIA on
this policy, program or project, or can resources be
accessed?
No
Yes Can a health impact assessment on this policy,
program, or project be completed within a time frame
that is useful for influencing decision-making? No
High
High
What is your sense of the likelihood that the health
impacts of this policy, program or project might be
intensified for disadvantaged groups?
Positive health impacts and/or
Negative health impacts
Moderate/
low
Moderate/

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low
Yes/ maybe Is there already some discussion (a “buzz”) at the
policy level about potential (or suspected) health
impacts of this policy, program or project? No
Yes/ maybe Is there already some discussion (a “buzz”) at the
community level about potential (or suspected) health
impacts of this policy, program or project? No
Yes/ maybe Is there some reason to suspect that health issues not
considered in the planning process of this policy,
project or program might become more visible by
doing an HIA?
No
No Is there already so much evidence, data, or experience
out there regarding this policy, program or project that
an HIA might be a waste of resources?
Yes
No Is there so little evidence, data, or experience regarding
this policy, program or project that an HIA might not
be possible?
Yes
Table 1: Screening tool adopted from London’s Health, 2000
The screening tool used here is an existing tool and is adapted from the London’s
Health (2000). The type of the screening process that will be used in the HIA are as follows:
Applicable type of assessment
Rapid HIA Intermediat
e HIA
Comprehensive
HIA
Prospective
Retrospective
Concurrent

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Scope of impact assessment-
Aim of the HIA: To assess the impacts on health due to climate change on the elderly
people residing in City of Busselton.
Values underpinning the HIA: HIA will be conducted in a respectful manner
causing no harm to any human; HIA will be conducted in a transparent, open and ethical
manner; To be mindful of the human rights and the equity rights (Harris-Roxas et al. 2012).
Objectives of the HIA: Gathering of the evidence-based recommendations; To
identify the negative and the positive health impacts due to climate change.
Boundaries of the HIA: Elderly people residing in the City of Busselton.
Timescale for the HIA: The total duration of the project will be 8 weeks (see table 3)
Steering group membership: Local Government, Australian Bureau of Meteorology,
Health professionals (General physicians), Senior Citizen group: Busselton Senior Citizen's
Centre, Community council.
Main stakeholders: Senior Citizen group: Busselton Senior Citizen's Centre,
Families with elders, Aged care centres, Community Council.
Key informants for the HIA: Community health centres, Aged care centres,
Community Council, Healthcare professionals (local general physicians).
Who will be responsible for gathering evidence in the following areas: Literature
review, Community, profile, Stakeholder workshops, Proposal and policy analysis (Dua &
Acharya, 2014).

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Who will be responsible for appraising the evidence and forming
recommendations: Reference groups, Project head/manager.
How will the results of the HIA be presented and disseminated: The results will
be presented through a PowerPoint presentation to the concerned government officials and
local healthcare institutes. The results will be disseminated in the form of a small assessment
report over the newspapers, journals and magazines.
What measures will be put in place to facilitate evaluation of the HIA? To
measure the entire conduct of the health impact assessment, the measures that will be put into
place are the proper conduct of the face to face interview and proper assessment of the
meteorological data provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (den Broeder et al.
2017).
How will the HIA budget be spent: Human resources, Venue hire, catering and
travel costs for meetings and workshops, Costs associated with dissemination of the results,
Evaluation costs (Table 4).
Operating arrangements for the steering group including Chair, Date and location
of meetings, Secretariat.
Table 3: Time scale
Stages Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8
Desk audit
Focus
groups x 3
Face to
face

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interview
Analysing
data
Writing
report
Monitoring
and
evaluation
Table 4: Budget (McCallum, Ollson & Stefanovic 2016)
Items Roles Cost
Personnel:
Consulting team
consisting of 3
investigators
This team will lead the project and will organize the
study and consultation with the other experts. It will
conduct 8 meetings over the span of 4 days. Also,
consult the external consultants. The team will also
supervise the research assistants, review and finalize the
report.
$30,000
Research Assistant Research assistants will conduct a literature review, and
prepare a draft report. The team of research assistants
will gather data on climate change, elderly in the
community, local communities and audit data. Research
assistants will conduct the interview over the span of 3
days and transcribe them.
$11,900
External Consultant External consultants will collate and analyse the data and $8,000

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provide the same for the final report findings.
Experts that will
examine the effects
of climate change
on City of Busselton
This team of experts will include the urban heat
specialists, meteorologist, urban planner
$12,000
Project evaluation This team will consist of Lead and Assistant evaluators.
They will review the evaluation and monitoring report.
The Assistant evaluator will evaluate the data and finally
will write the evaluation and monitoring report.
$5000
Miscellaneous This section considers the miscellaneous costs of report
making, publishing, refreshments.
$2000
Travel Travelling charges from the Deakin University to City of
Busselton.
$2000
Equipment Transcriber and tape recorder for conducting the face to
face interviews
$1400
Total cost $72,300
Identification of the main impacts negative and positive- The negative impacts that
have been identified are the differentiated into the social and health impacts. The negative
social impacts are the displacement of people, social exclusion, change in behaviour in order
to avoid the the impact of heat, isolation occurring due to infrastructure damage or transport
failure. The health-related negative impacts are the issues arising due to mental health
implications, routine access to the health services, health issues that are related to the water
quality and diet, changes in the incidence of the mosquito-relatedmosquito-related diseases or
illness, dehydration and heat-stress (Zanobetti et al. 2012).

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While the only positive health impact arises from the cold-related health issues.
Table 5: Main impacts, both positive and negative
Impact Negative Positive Likelihood (definite,
probable, or speculative)
Social
Displacement of people Definite
Social exclusion Definite
Change in behaviour in order
to avoid impact of heat
Definite
Isolation occurring due to
infrastructure damage or
transport failure
Definite
Health
Mental health implications Speculative
Routine access to the health
services
Definite
Health issues that are related
to the water quality and diet
Definite
Cold related health issues Definite
Changes in the incidence of
the mosquito related diseases

10HEALTH AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
or illness
Dehydration and heat-stress
Limiting factor- there are various factors that might act to reduce the effectiveness of
the impact assessment and they are: lack of the essential data, such as community profiling
data, exact impact of the climate change on the surroundings and the elderly people, improper
analysis tool; lack of time to conduct in-depth analysis; lack of improper funding to carry out
the health impact assessment; resistance within the government and organization; the lack of
the availability of the healthcare practitioners (Linzalone et al. 2014). Improper evaluation of
the impact data related to the health of the elderly people.
Monitoring and evaluation of the impact assessment- the monitoring and the
evaluation process will include: the assessment of the canopy cover that directly affects and
influences the urban heat; finding exact locations and the number of the new aged care
facilities; monitoring of the number of the hospital admissions due to the mental illness, heat
stroke, dehydration, respiratory disease; monitoring the water and air quality at the regular
intervals (Chirmata, Leghrib and Ichou 2017); environmental factors of the change in climate
at the City of Busselton at regular intervals. Among all the above monitorable factors, the one
that demands a higher degree of monitoring is the water quality and air quality monitoring.
Such monitoring will reveal the quality of air that the elderly people are breathing in and can
highlight the diseases occurring due to the air pollution. The less the canopy cover the less
the sequestration of carbon dioxide in the area, and less the cooling of the environment. The
quality of the canopy cover can be evaluated based on the data provided by the local
government (Loughner et al. 2012).

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Dissemination of the findings- The findings will be disseminated in the form of a
written report and it will be presented to the government officials, government departments
and the government/private hospitals in the form of PowerPoint presentations. The other
probable and best forms of presenting the findings are through the international and national
journals, newspapers and magazines. With the health impact assessment, the infrastructure,
facilities and healthcare services can be formulated which will benefit the elderly people. The
government will take proper actions to mitigate the negative issues that arise due to climate
change (Bourcier et al. 2015).
Conclusion- From the above discussion it can be concluded that this unit provided a
lot of information on one of the vital topics of health impact assessment. The climate change
and the impact on the health of the elderly people in the City of Busselton. The conduct of the
impact assessment provided me with an insight of how the climate can actually impact the
health of one of most vulnerable sections of the society. I have come across a lot of contacts
that will help me in future with my studies and my future work life. The knowledge and the
skills gained of how to conduct a health impact assessment will further enthuse me to pursue
opportunities related to this field. While this health impact assessment can be utilized as a
solution to the recent issues pertaining to the climate change and its impact on the elderly
people. This will definitely the help the people of the City of Busselton and will provide a
blueprint for the local government to conduct various types of health impact assessments
occurring due to the other issues.

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