Eco-affective one health: A public health framework for climate, emotion, and systemic resilience

Climate change affects population health not only through physical exposures but also through emotional and psychosocial pathways that shape vulnerability, adaptive behaviour, and systemic resilience. Existing One Health frameworks insufficiently integrate these affective dimensions. This paper proposes an Eco-Affective One Health framework to incorporate emotional responses into public health surveillance, preparedness, and governance.

Conceptual synthesis of interdisciplinary literature.

Peer-reviewed literature published between 2018 and 2025 was identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science using keywords related to climate anxiety, ecological grief, solastalgia, emotional responses to climate change, public health adaptation, and One Health. Approximately 95 peer-reviewed articles, policy reports, and global health assessments were synthesized to identify mechanisms linking emotional responses to climate change with population vulnerability, adaptive behaviour, and health system demands.

Emotional responses such as climate anxiety, ecological grief, and solastalgia function as early indicators of climate-related distress and structural inequities. Existing validated measures (e.g., Climate Anxiety Scale and related instruments) demonstrate associations between climate-related worry, risk perception, behavioural engagement, and adaptive capacity. The proposed Eco-Affective One Health framework integrates four components: affective risk surveillance, community emotional climate monitoring, eco-affective determinants of health, and policy integration. Incorporating these dimensions strengthens early warning capacity and supports equitable climate adaptation planning.

Integrating emotional responses into One Health expands public health capacity to anticipate climate-related risks, address inequities, and enhance systemic resilience. Eco-Affective One Health provides an operational and scientifically grounded approach for health systems navigating accelerating environmental change.