3.1.1. Planning Responses to Climate Change-Related Health Risks

Managing climate change-related health risks are divided between several ministries and their subdivisions in Estonia (Table 1). The Ministry of Social Affairs coordinates environmental health politics following the National Health Plan 2009–2020 [50], without explicitly considering the health risks associated with climate change. The Ministry of Environment Environmental Strategy 2030 and National Environmental Action Plan recognise the need to increase understanding of health risks, including through increasing awareness about health risks in environment and educational specialists and in the population, and in those responsible for managing emergency situations [51,52].


**Table 1.** Key institutions and responsibilities in policymaking, monitoring, and protective measures in relation to climate change adaptation.

Emergency situations that potentially affect health, including extremely hot or cold weather, storms, large-scale landscape or forest fires, floods in densely populated areas, and epidemics, are regulated by the Emergency Act [57]. According to the Internal Security Development Plan 2015–2020 [58], the goal is to ensure preparedness for disasters resulting from extreme weather conditions caused by climate change, and to develop procedures for disaster management.

Baseline research for a more comprehensive Climate Strategy was initiated in 2015 to follow the EU Climate Adaptation Directive [15]. Interviews found there was not a perceived need to deal with adaptation separately. The respondents found that healthcare, environmental health, and rescue services are sufficiently regulated by legislative acts and strategic documents. An official of the Ministry of the Interior (29 April 2015): "*Everything is in its place legislatively, and if anything needed to be changed it is rather the organisation of work*."
