ABSTRACT
Starting with an extensive literature review of research on the drivers and barriers of health adaptation to climate change, this chapter derives a set of hypotheses and builds an explanatory model that will be tested in the empirical parts of this book. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the study field, this theoretical chapter combines findings from geography, public health, and political science literature and discusses the ways socioeconomic, geographical, and political factors influence how states recognize climate change related health risks and which actions they take to reduce those risks. Ultimately, the chapter summarizes how information on climate change related health risks may lead to adaptation-level action by introducing the sieve model of health adaptation to climate change and integrating the model into the traditional policy cycle.
